I've omitted from my May 30, 2022 post the discussion about moving the permissible age to both purchase firearms and vote to 21 by statute. This, of course, foolishly ignored the 26th Amendment to the Constitution which granted the right to vote at 18. Oops . . .
However, my faux pax in forgetting that national voting rights were granted to 18-year olds by Constitutional amendment rather than federal statute caused me to re-think this issue. The 2nd Amendment grants the right to keep and bear arms to all adult Americans, i.e., those old enough to comprise the citizen militia necessary to maintain a free country as explained in the Amendment itself. Because, by virtue of the 26th Amendment, the Constitution now defines those over 18 as adults -- as we certainly would not grant critically-important voting rights to non-adults -- I believe 18 has become the Constitutionally-defined age of adulthood.
It is unconstitutional to deprive adult Americans of the right to keep and bear arms. Therefore, I oppose any attempt to raise the permissible age of firearm purchases to 21. As tempting as such simplistic solutions may be, we're going to have to find better -- and lawful -- ways to prevent mentally ill teenagers from committing mass murder.