If you’re someone under the age of 21 and think the Democrats are all that interested in treating you like an adult, guess what? You’re an idiot.

In the Democratic mind, such as it is, anyone under the drinking age is an inferior American who must be coddled and treated like a child, despite being old enough to vote, sign contracts and enlist in the armed forces. They’re mature enough for all of that, but apparently, guns are different.

Apparently, a legal adult who can help determine the fate of our nation or defend it can’t be trusted to buy a hunting rifle.

Democrats are introducing a bill that would raise the minimum age to buy assault-style weapons, the latest in a multipronged effort to address a string of recent mass shootings and stifle the gun lobby’s sway since taking back the House majority.

The bipartisan bill, expected to be introduced by Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.) Wednesday, would prohibit anyone younger than 21 from buying semi-automatic rifles, with exceptions for active duty military personnel and some police officers. In most states, anyone 18 or older can buy what’s known as an assault-style weapon, even though the federal purchasing age for handguns is 21.

Brown’s bill is a repeat of legislation the Maryland Democrat and others offered in the previous Congress after the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., left 17 students and school staffers dead. That effort failed to pass, but this time Democrats have the House majority on their side.

Brown acknowledged that creating age restrictions is far from his ideal, and he would prefer an outright ban: “I’m all about banning assault weapons,” he said in an interview. But Brown first introduced the bill in the House last year because President Donald Trump himself endorsed it in the days after the Parkland shooting.

“Where’d I get this idea from? I got it from President Trump,” Brown said.

Three Republicans have so far signed on: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Brian Mast of Florida and Peter King of New York. The one other Republican who backed the effort last year, Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent, has retired.

Last March, Trump told a group of lawmakers in a meeting that aired live on cable news that he supported raising the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic weapons to 21.

However, there are multiple problems here.

For one, this is a direct infringement on the rights of these Americans. They’re already barred from owning handguns, which makes them second-class citizens, but now they want to bar them from yet another self-defense firearm? Seriously?

Then, of course, the definition of “assault weapon” matters as well. Let’s keep in mind that AR-15s are great for several hunting applications, particularly things like coyotes. AR-pattern rifles such as the AR-10 are great for hunting a lot of other things too, so yeah, they’re hunting rifles. Frankly, I’d prefer something like the AR-10 for hunting hogs. I’m not that good of a tree climber and, well, sometimes you don’t hit precisely where you want to. A hog will turn on you and the quick cycling time of the AR-10 is a damn good thing to have.

What we’re going to see, at best, is a bill that will use the whole “evil features” thing and will be fairly easy to get around. Either that or they’ll use the new definition of “assault rifle” and cover all semi-auto weapons.

Neither is acceptable.

Unfortunately, President Trump has given them cover for this. This is why you don’t even hint at support for some level of gun control. If you do, some Democrat will try and weasel in with exactly that, thus paving the way for still more restrictions down the road.

With Democrats controlling the House, I expect it to pass easily enough. Since Trump suggested it, we have to assume he’ll sign it. That means the onus is on the Senate to hold this bill off.

The question is, will they?