Throughout the nation, anti-gunners want to completely disarm legal adults under the age of 21. They argue that these folks are too irrational to exercise their Second Amendment rights, only to enlist in the military, vote, buy property, sign contracts, and a host of other things that we should probably not allow irrational people to do.

In Utah, though, there's a measure up for consideration that kind of goes in a completely different direction.

Rather than treating adults like children, it treats them like adults.

A newly proposed bill would allow 18- to 20-year-olds to openly carry firearms in most public spaces in Utah and prevent landlords from enforcing lease agreements that bar firearms from the premises.

The bill is being sponsored by state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, the House majority whip, and was presented to the Legislature‘s Criminal Code Subcommittee on Sept. 16. Since that hearing, the 101-page legislation has already undergone some meaningful changes to clarify its purpose, prompted by questions from KSL.com.

...

“The goal of the bill is to clarify firearm law in the state of Utah because citizens should know their rights,” she said. “This process subsequently raised several policy questions; and when those policy questions came up, I attempted to align (the proposed bill) with legislative intent that protects Utahns in exercising their fundamental Second Amendment rights.”

In addition to recodifying sections of statute, she said the bill allows any adult to openly carry legally obtained weapons in most public places and clarifies code to allow renters — including students on campus — to possess legal firearms on their rented property. It also adds some protections for adults who allow minors to use firearms on shooting ranges or for hunting, she said.

“One of the precautionary reasons why we are doing this is because we found that a lot of people may be violating the law without even knowing it,” Lisonbee said. “I also want to be very clear that there are no changes in this bill that remove Second Amendment rights for Utahns.”

All I have to say on this is that legal adults should be treated like adults and have all of their constitutionally protected rights. If an age category can't be trusted with those rights, then raise the age of adulthood. If you won't do that, then I can't take any arguments against this seriously.

But the idea of renters being prevented from having guns is probably the bigger issue.

On one hand, renters have the right to keep and bear arms. They shouldn't have to forfeit it just to rent a place to live.

On the other, landlords own the property and, as such, have certain rights about that property. Just as I'm not a fan of telling a property owner what colors they have to use, I'm not a fan of telling them what ground rules they can and can't put down.

Yet if they're not going to try to tell you who you should vote for or what topics you can discuss inside your home, they shouldn't be trying to tell you that you can't have guns, either, and we all know they'd never be able to enforce such a restriction. So yeah, this is an interesting point of discussion, though it doesn't remotely change my positive view of this bill.