Posted on 02/17/2018 7:21:25 AM PST by Simon Green
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said on Friday that she will introduce legislation to raise the minimum legal age to buy rifles in the wake of a school shooting in Florida.
Feinstein said the legislation would require anyone buying a firearm from a gun dealer to be at least 21 years old.
“Under current law, licensed gun dealers cannot sell a handgun to anyone under 21, but they are allowed to sell assault rifles like the AR-15 to anyone over 18. This policy is dangerous and makes absolutely no sense," Feinstein said.
She added that "if you can’t buy a handgun or a bottle of beer, you shouldn’t be able to buy an AR-15."
The bill comes after 17 people were killed during a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, roughly 30 miles from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The suspected shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, allegedly used an AR-15 rifle. Federal law enforcement officials told The New York Times that the gun was purchased legally.
Under federal law, gun dealers can't sell a hand gun to anyone under 21.
But licensed gun dealers can sell "long guns," which include rifles, to anyone 18 and older, under federal law, with most states having similar age restrictions, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Gun legislation has stalled for years in Congress. In 2013, the Senate failed to pass legislation that would have expanded background checks, despite Democrats controlling the chamber at that time.
Senate Republicans also signaled in the wake of a shooting at a concert in Las Vegas last year that they would be open to banning "bump stocks"—a device that can simulate automatic gunfire with a semi-automatic weapon. But legislation targeting those devices has since stalled.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said during a committee hearing this week that he, Feinstein and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) would get together to discuss the issue.
Previous to 1972 and the 26th amendment the voting age was 21... active military or not.
I am simply making a point about the hypocrisy of Feinstein in suggesting that one need be 21 to purchase any firearm while not suggesting the repeal of the 26th amendment. When is one an adult? It is not something that is variable depending on whether you benefit (politically) or not.
The point needs to be stressed that it depends on whose ox is getting gored.
The democRATS created these shooting galleries and they should be held accountable for it.
Gun free school zones is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard
“How’d they get away with handguns being 21?”
IIRC, they successfully made the arguement that long guns were for hunting and handguns were only for concealing until you were ready to rob or kill with it. Then came the AR and liberals don’t know what to do.
Let’s just keep it simple.
You aren’t an “adult” until you are 21.
That means everything - drinking, gambling, contracts, gun ownership, conscription, voting, etc. - starts at 21.
Frankly, I’ve had to spend a lot of time with 18 to 21 year olds lately. Most of them have never held down a job, not even a part time one. They don’t know how to file their taxes. They have immature attitudes towards relationships and responsibility.
With our life expectancy getting longer (until very recently, but I digress) it only makes sense to have the age of majority pushed back a bit. Heck, kids are on their parents health insurance until they are 27!
I’m good with it.
Nor 12 year old Boy Scouts at the Shooting Range.
When our government stops calling 26 year olds “children” then we can revisit it.
Pay attention to that term: Grow up. It's a process. It doesn't happen overnight. People grow into responsibility and maturity by EXERCISING responsibility and maturity. They need to be given responsibility (in small things) as young as possible so that they WILL grow up.
You propose to infantilize 20 year olds??? You're part of the problem.
I am okay with raising the voting age to 25, unless the individual has completed a satisfactory term of military service.
And I trust it is voted down.
JoMa
100% of these shooters were mental cases and in every case PEOPLE KNEW. Yet these psychotics weren’t locked up where they belong.
THAT is what needs to change, not the rape of constitutional rights.
No problem with that at all. My concern is with these “failure to launch” individuals who believe that the world owes them a living. You know who I am talking about.
This topic and pretty much every other topic are being left with only one answer for them. The answer that I’ve been preaching for years.
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