Second Amendment For Every Registrable (SAFER) Voter Act would lower minimum age to buy a handgun from 21 to 18
If they can vote and serve in the military, should they also be able to legally purchase a handgun?
Context
The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 raised the minimum age for purchasing a handgun or pistol from a licensed dealer to 21. In a level of bipartisanship unimaginable today, it passed the House 372–23 and the Senate 72–4.
However, under current federal law, a shotgun or rifle can still be purchased from a licensed dealer starting at age 18. This means that under federal law, an 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old can legally purchase a shotgun or rifle from a licensed dealer, but not a handgun — even though a handgun is a common weapon used for self-defense in the home.
A few states have remedied this imbalance by lowering the handgun purchasing age to 18 as well, including Alabama, South Carolina, and Virginia. Now some Republican lawmakers want to make that same change nationwide.
What the bill does
The Second Amendment For Every Registrable (SAFER) Voter Act would lower the minimum age of purchase for a handgun from 21 to 18, the same as the minimum voting age nationally.
Interestingly: this Republican push to lower the handgun purchase age from 21 to 18 comes concurrent with the party supporting the Tobacco to 21 Act, which would raise the tobacco purchasing age from 18 to 21.
The SAFER Voter Act was introduced in the House on January 30 as bill number H.R. 5716, by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY4).
What supporters say
Supporters argue that the bill ensures a legal adult — who can vote and handle weapons in uniform — isn’t prevented from owning a handgun for self-defense in their own home.
“Why should a 20-year-old single mom be denied the right to defend herself and her children?” Rep. Massie wrote in a Facebook post. “18, 19, and 20-year-olds are considered adults and are able to vote on important public policy issues. They can also form business contracts, get married, and serve in the military. As adults, these Americans should not be deprived of basic constitutional rights.”
“Recent proposals to raise the minimum age to purchase a long gun from 18 to 21 are not simply misguided, but are also unconstitutional, especially if citizens under 21 are barred from purchasing a handgun,” Rep. Massie continued. “District of Columbia v. Heller [a 2008 Supreme Court decision] established that gun control measures cannot be so draconian as to completely extinguish the right to keep and bear arms, yet that’s what happens when all gun purchases are prohibited for a certain class of adults based on age.”
What opponents say
Opponents counter that the aforementioned District of Columbia v. Heller decision can actually support the opposite conclusion: that a minimum age of 21 for handgun sales is constitutional. The 2012 decision NRA vs. BATFE by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the existing laws, even under Heller’s reasoning.
Heller reiterated the “right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home,” the decision noted, adding that Heller also stated the “right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.”
“Curbing violent crime perpetrated by young persons under 21 — by preventing such persons from acquiring handguns from FFLs [federal firearms licensees] — constitutes an important government objective,” the appeals court wrote. “Congress found that the ease with which young persons under 21 could access handguns — as opposed to other guns — was contributing to violent crime, and also found that FFLs — as opposed to other sources — constituted the central conduit of handgun traffic to young persons under 21.”
“Congress, in turn, reasonably tailored a solution to the particular problem: Congress restricted the ability of persons under 21 to purchase handguns from FFLs, while allowing (i) 18-to-20-year-old persons to purchase long-guns, (ii) persons under 21 to acquire handguns from parents or guardians, and (iii) persons under 21 to possess handguns and long-guns.”
“Alternatively, Congress could have prohibited all persons under 21 from possessing handguns — or all guns, for that matter. But Congress deliberately adopted a calibrated, compromise approach.”
Odds of passage
The bill has attracted four cosponsors, all Republicans. It awaits a potential vote in the House Judiciary Committee. Odds of passage are low in the Democratic-controlled chamber.
Rep. Massie previously introduced the bill in February 2018 but it never received a vote, despite Republicans controlling the House at the time.
This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
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