Fundamental rights are constantly being weighed and measured. Cases have explored whether or not students have their own First Amendment rights, as minors, while enrolled in public schools. The Left has proposed HR 1, a real whopper of a bill passed by the House aims to let 16  year olds vote. Well, there’s now a response of sorts from Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), who’s stepped up to the plate by introducing the SAME Act.

The Second Amendment Mandates Equality (SAME) Act of 2021, co-sponsored by Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Steve Daines (R-MT), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Braun (R-IN), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Jim Risch (R-ID), and sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in the U.S. House of Representatives, would repeal a law that currently prevents adults under 21 from buying a handgun.

This bill, should it become law, would restore Second Amendment rights to legal adults. Period. If an 18 year old is an adult by statute, there is no reason why they should not be afforded the ability to purchase a handgun. When progressives are crying about “taxation without representation” in regards to DC not being a state, what of all the disenfranchised adults that pay taxes, live on their own, can serve in the military, can vote, but are only granted a watered down version of the Second Amendment?

The proposed text of the bill is plain and simple:

IN GENERAL.—Section 922(b)(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking

‘‘, and, if the firearm, or ammunition is other than a shotgun or rifle, or ammunition for a shotgun or rifle, to any individual who the licensee knows or has reasonable cause to believe is less than twenty-one years of age’’.

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 922(c)(1) of such title is amended by striking ‘‘, in the case of any firearm other than a shotgun or a rifle, I am twenty-one years or more of age, or that, in the case of a shotgun or a rifle,’’

That’s it. That’s the bill. Compared to the monstrosities regularly introduced in Congress that can run to thousands of pages, this is refreshingly succinct.

Isn’t mandating equality all about what the progressives are after? I think this is a slam dunk. The bill points out an inequality in the law and aims to fix it.

Unfortunately, I have no doubts in my mind that that bill will be met with resistance. Our friends on the other side only scream for equality when it suits their purposes, and we already know what their argument will be. The brains of young adults aren’t finished forming until age 25, so it would be incredibly dangerous to “allow” 18-year olds to exercise their Second Amendment rights fully.

Even if more aggressive measures are stymied by gridlock, Congress might consider banning the sale of firearms to people under 25 (except, perhaps, hunting rifles). Even conservatives have shown some appetite for age-based restrictions: Just three weeks after the shooting in Parkland, the then-governor of Florida, Republican Rick Scott — now in the U.S. Senate — signed a bill shifting the age for purchasing a firearm from 18 to 21. But the choice of 21 was arbitrary. Recent research in neuroscience suggests that 25 makes more sense.

Of course, if that’s their argument, then why should we let 16-year olds vote? It’s not about equality, no matter what they claim. It’s about power. The Left knows that younger voters skew Democratic, so if you can add more teenagers to the voting rolls, Democrats will disproportionately benefit. I’m not sure that I’d really want to be known as the party supported by those whose brains haven’t fully formed yet, but the Democrats are okay with that baggage as long as it means more control over the levers of government.