‘YOU HAVE RIGHTS OR YOU DON’T’

Last month, I reported on a federal lawsuit filed in Illinois challenging the Prairie State’s concealed carry statute that bans young adults aged 18–20 from obtaining a permit to legally carry a defensive sidearm.

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, the Firearms Policy Coalition and three private citizens in the affected age group have filed another legal action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Could this be the beginning of a wave?

Defendants are John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, plus three county sheriffs, Mille Lac County Sheriff Don Lorge, Douglas County Sheriff Troy Wolbersen and Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry, in their individual and official capacities.

The arguments put forth in their complaint are similar, if not identical, to those in the Illinois case. They are no less compelling, especially to anyone who has ever had a son or daughter heading off to a combat zone, getting married, starting a business or entering into some other commitment or contract, which reaching age 18 allows. They have, after all, reached the legal “age of majority” at 18, so they can vote in federal elections and do all kinds of other things. They just can’t buy a handgun or carry it for personal protection.

Silly? It certainly is, according to SAF’s Alan Gottlieb.

“Minnesota law prohibits private citizens from carrying guns outside the home or vehicle without a permit,” he explained, “but the state does not issue permits to anyone under age 21. This is patently unfair to an entire class of citizens who have otherwise achieved ‘majority status’ to exercise these other rights and privileges, but their right to keep and bear arms is kept off-limits.”

“Young adults between 18 and 21 were fully protected by the Second Amendment at the time of its ratification,” Gottlieb added. “Hundreds of statutes from the colonial and founding eras required 18- to 20-year-olds to keep and bear arms.”

He says it is time for the federal courts to “remedy this situation” and do away with what he considers a double standard. He gave Second Amendment activists something to think about as this case unfolds.

“You either have the rights of an adult, or you don’t,” he reasoned. “Rights are an all-or-nothing package, whether you are 18 or 81. This inconsistency in law needs to be fixed.”

https://www.saf.org/saf-files-federal-challenge-to-minn-ban-on-ccw-by-young-adults/

Face it, we were all 18 once and sometimes it seems miraculous we survived. It’s that “maturity thing.”

However, we all know people in their 40s and 50s who act like they’re still in their teens, and if you contend otherwise, you’re kidding yourself. We send our sons and daughters off to live their lives as best as they can, hopefully exercising good judgment in the process. We hope they don’t get hurt along the way.

There are 18- and 19-year-olds who have defended the nation. How old was Audie Murphy when he earned the Medal of Honor? He was 19. Who is going to dismiss those kids who jumped out of airplanes over Normandy, or waded ashore a few hours later, maybe never to see another sunrise?

It is a dilemma not easily solved.

When Washington voters passed gun control Initiative 1639 back in 2018, raising the minimum age to purchase and own a semi-auto rifle, including a .22 rimfire, SAF and the National Rifle Association, two firearms retailers and three young adults in the targeted age group sued in federal court in Tacoma. A judge tried to dismiss the case, but an appeals court panel restored and remanded it and now it is moving slowly in the courts.

The lazy argument from anti-gunners is we don’t let young adults buy beer or hard liquor. It’s a frivolous argument put forth by people who slept through high school Civics, because they still don’t get it there is no constitutional protection for buying a 6-pack, but there definitely is an enumerated right to keep and bear arms.

Anyone who has ever drooled over the firearms reproductions from Pietta should be delighted to learn Davidson’s, one of the nation’s top firearms wholesalers, has joined forces with Pietta to produce a trio of exclusive guns.

There are two sixguns and a double-barrel shotgun in the mix. The single-action revolvers are built on the 1873 platform and are chambered for .45 Colt with an extra cylinder to accommodate the .45 ACP. According to a Davidson’s release, the handguns are available with either a 4.75″ or 5.5″ barrel. The cylinder, barrel and frame are deeply blued while the grip frame and trigger guard are brass with a high-polished finish.

The scattergun is an 1878 Deluxe Coach Gun with 20″ barrels chambered for 2 ¾” shells. This gun has a walnut stock, color case-hardened receiver, fixed cylinder chokes, double triggers and working external hammers. There’s a bead front sight.

They’re all handsome firearms, and for cowboy action shooters, they just might be irresistible.

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