Adults under 21 shouldn't be getting shafted on any of their rights. They're old enough to die for their country, so they should be considered old enough to fully enjoy the rights of any American citizen.

It doesn't seem like a big ask, and yet, it's a thing.

At both the state and federal levels, adults under 21 get shafted on their right to keep and bear arms. They can't lawfully buy handguns from FFL dealers, they can't lawfully carry a firearm in some places, and they can't own any guns at all in some other places.

It's insane.

Over at the NRA's America's 1st Freedom, they look at some of the battles being waged for these younger adults.

The civil-rights battle to ensure that government entities at every level recognize the Second Amendment-protected rights of American adults aged 18, 19 and 20 years old is currently being fought at several levels, with a mixed bag of results.

Unjust laws targeting young adults abound at both the federal and state level. Interestingly, in most states, these same young adults have all of their other rights recognized.

Legally, young adults should be recognized as having the same rights protected under the Constitution as adults over 21. Judge Julius Richardson of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said back in 2021, when he wrote in his opinion in Hirschfeld v. ATF: “When do constitutional rights vest? At 18 or 21? 16 or 25? Why not 13 or 33? In the law, a line must sometimes be drawn. But there must be a reason why constitutional rights cannot be enjoyed until a certain age. Our nation’s most cherished constitutional rights vest no later than 18. And the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms is no different.”

Unfortunately, many courts and jurisdictions don’t see it this way. Let’s look at eight recent developments in this ongoing battle, some in the courtroom and some in state legislatures.

I won't delve into all of them, but they're there for your convenience at the above link.

Some are wins, others aren't. One of the losses is here in my home state of Georgia, though that was based on the constitutionality under the state's constitution, and so the state Supreme Court said nothing about the Second Amendment.

Still, as noted above, things have been kind of a mixed bag. 

That's a shame.

Richardson's comment quoted asks a question that clearly must be answered sooner or later. If we're going to decide that constitutionally protected rights aren't really rights until a certain age, then why? Why this right and not that right? Why are adults under 21 too irrational to have their full gun rights, but rational enough to vote in our elections and help select our leaders?

At some point, this question needs to be answered.

Of course, no matter what the answer is, the matter will never be fully settled. Some people will still try to act like these younger American adults aren't trustworthy in the main and thus shouldn't have guns at all, not because they necessarily believe it, but because they figure it's an easier sell at that moment than disarming everyone.

The fight will continue.

Yet the courts are also going to need that guidance to evaluate things going forward. Sooner or later, it has to happen.