Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
The battle over gun rights isn’t going away anytime soon. Part of the issue is that many think retaining any degree of one’s gun rights means their rights haven’t been infringed upon.
That’s part of why restrictions on handgun ownership for those under the age of 21 have been allowed to stand. Those law-abiding adults could still buy shotguns and rifles, after all, so they could still defend themselves.
But a recent poll in Texas suggests that 80 percent of folks in the state are fine with treating some law-abiding adults as if they’re convicted felons.
Well, that’s not how it’s framed, mind you, but that’s pretty much how it boils down.
Eighty percent of Texans support legislation raising the age requirement to purchase an assault rifle (such as an AR-15) from 18 to 21, according to a survey from the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs.
Increasing the age for assault rifle purchases is one of many legislative priorities for Texas Democratic lawmakers and gun reform advocates following a slew of mass shootings across the nation and the state in recent years. Heightened gun control measures polled favorably among those polled in UH’s survey on 2023 legislative issues.
According to the survey, 90 percent of Texans also supported banning the possession or purchase of a gun by anyone with a restraining order for domestic violence, and 86 percent of Texans supported requiring a criminal background check for gun purchases. Eighty-three percent of those surveyed supported red flag laws, which allow authorities to confiscate the firearms of individuals deemed by a court to be a danger to themselves or others. Sixty-three percent of Texans supported legislation that would ban the sale of high-capacity magazines.
We’ve talked in the past about polling data that suggests most support background checks. I mean, sure, but gun buyers already undergo background checks. The polls don’t differentiate between what currently exists and some new measure, so at least some of that support is for the status quo.
Honestly, most of these measures we’ve talked about, but this idea that people under the age of 21 are some subset of the citizenry is a big problem for me. It’s like they’re almost adults, but not quite.
As it stands, they can take on student loan debt with no parental input, enlist in the military, live on their own, own a car, vote for our leaders, and a host of other things. Why are they prohibited from buying yet another kind of firearm?
People in this age group are already prevented from owning handguns, yet we have countless criminals in this demographic being arrested for various crimes with them.
So what good does inhibiting their gun rights actually do? What legitimate purpose does this serve?
Some will claim it’ll reduce mass shootings, but since most mass shootings are carried out with handguns, I once again find an issue with this claim.
And this is Texas, where people are supposed to be pro-gun.
Clearly, it’s “rules for thee but not for me” with some folks in the Lone Star State, unfortunately.
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2023/02/08/texans-gun-rights-n67094