Weigh In: Should Age Requirement for Concealed Carry Be Lowered?
Jan 8, 2016 |
Should 18 year-olds be allowed to carry concealed?
Do the majority of responsible gun owners support a lower age for concealed carry? Here’s James England’s opinion from aliengearholsters.com blog.
There is no federal mandate on the minimum age a person needs to be to acquire a concealed carry permit. Each state has created their own age restrictions. While most states have a requirement to be 21 or older to obtain a concealed carry permit, states like New Hampshire have no clear age requirement on the books. Some states permit an 18 year old to obtain a concealed carry permit if he’s in the military. Other states, like Indiana, set the age at 18 on the nose.
I’d argue no.
And it has nothing to do with the idea that an eighteen year old can hold that sort of responsibility. It has everything to do with the mechanisms required to make that rule happen. In order for the age of concealed carry to drop to 18 across the country, it would require one of two processes:
• Federal law
• All 50 states passing legislation
He explains that it would be either federal boondoggle or state-by-state fight. Federal boondoggle would slowly kill out the support and make the whole proposed law a burden by the the time it went through House and Senate. He believes that at the end of the process there would be provisions and fixes that would take away the benefits of the law in the first place.
With the 50 states passing legislation to lower the permit age it would just explode into hubbub and ridiculous arguments for and against it.
The best way to drop the age of concealed carry down to 18 – or eliminate it altogether – would be to propose specific changes to your state’s bills. More powerful than a letter to your state representative or senator would be to find the part of your state’s law that specifies an age and ask for that specific piece to be eliminated or amended as you see fit.
Not only are you giving a concrete solution to the problem, you’re making the drafting process easier for the legislator. After all, it’s all about getting the right people into the concealed carry club.
I agree with James, it really should be left up to the state. I for one would probably support it along with training and such that goes along with it for younger people, because we do have young people going into the military that protect our country but aren’t allowed to protect themselves.
Its still a tough call, but if you have enough gun safety and education with young people it shouldn’t be a problem.
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