Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley -- who is polling in the single digits in the Democratic presidential primary race -- has come out with a new measure to restrict 2nd Amendment rights. He's calling for raising minimum age for purchasing any firearm from 18 to 21. The liberal Daily Beast website noticed the move by O'Malley and hailed it as "bold" above their headline in today's Cheat Sheet digest:
Former Maryland governor and Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley is proposing to raise the federal age for gun ownership to 21, up from 18. The idea is one part of a gun-control proposal that includes universal background checks for purchases. O'Malley's campaign likened these “common-sense reforms” to changes he implemented in Maryland after the Sandy Hook massacre.
Under current federal law, the minimum age to purchase a rifle or shotgun is 18 while the minimum to purchase a handgun is 21.
Eighteen year olds are old enough to marry, to vote, and to serve in the military, but Mr. O'Malley apparently thinks they should not be able to own a long gun for the purpose of home defense. It may be a good ploy for votes of the gun control crowd in a liberal Democratic primary contest, perhaps, but one imagines it's news which would cheer the criminal element in college towns. Off-campus student housing is so much more an inviting target when the occupants therein are unlikely to own any weapons at all because of government restrictions on gun sales.
