Sell Handguns to Teens? NRA Is Wrong on This One

Bloomberg View editors: Supreme Court should reject NRA petition
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 12, 2013 1:02 PM CDT
Updated Aug 12, 2013 1:54 PM CDT
Sell Handguns to Teens? NRA Is Wrong on This One
   (Shutterstock)

The NRA wants people between the ages of 18 and 21 to have an easier time buying handguns, but "restrictions on youthful gun ownership already seem pretty porous," write the editors of Bloomberg View. In a recent petition to the US Supreme Court, the NRA asks that a lower-court ruling be overturned and federally licensed gun dealers be allowed to sell handguns to anyone 18 or over—but those people can already buy long guns from federally licensed dealers, or handguns from unlicensed suppliers in most states. Should we really be making it even easier for people so young to buy guns, considering studies have shown the risk for gun violence is at its highest right around this age?

Limiting access to guns for people under 21 is "common sense and law," the editors write, while also pointing out that the drinking age remains 21. The NRA should remember that "gun rights in the US have always been limited—and in ways far more strict (and sensible) than what we see today. ... The Roberts Court has already liberalized gun laws far beyond the scope of any previous Supreme Court. Now would be a good time to stop." Click for the full editorial. (More US Supreme Court stories.)

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