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The NRA Wants Teens To Have Handguns, How Logical

by Lane Florsheim

Here they go again.

The NRA is asking the Supreme Court to strike down regulations banning the sales of handguns to adults under the age of 21. The gun lobby is challenging a lower federal court's ruling form October that held the ban.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled last fall that the current regulations are in place because they correspond to the long-held view that young adults between 18 and 20, “tend to be relatively immature and that denying them easy access to handguns would deter violent crime.”

As someone who fell into this demographic not so long ago, and also someone with common sense, I can testify that this reasoning makes a lot of sense.

The NRA, however, is not usually celebrated for its grasp on logic and reason.

"The Framers’ decision to enshrine the Second Amendment and this Court’s decisions recognizing that the right it secures is both individual and fundamental are decisions with consequences," the gun lobby wrote in its succinct 224-page petition. "One obvious consequence is that individuals above the legal age of majority cannot be denied any meaningful ability to purchase the quintessential means for exercising the core individual right."

Let's note that it's legal for adults under the age of 21 to buy rifles, shotguns, and other types of guns that aren't handguns. Plus, parents and guardians can give individuals who fall in this age range handguns as a gift. There also are zero laws barring the possession or use of a handgun by adults under age twenty-one.

The court could decide whether or not to consider the case as early as September 30.