The Kansas House passed a Republican-sponsored bill late last week to lower the state’s concealed carry age from 21 to 18 years.
The legislation is contained in House Bill 2058.
The Manhattan Mercury reports that 18-year-olds can already carry a gun openly in Kansas. The focus of the current legislation is to allow them to carry concealed as well but requires 18-20-year-olds seeking a permit to undergo a background check and participate in “safety training.”
Since Kansas is a campus carry state, the push to allow concealed carry for 18-year-olds would mean more students having access to self-defense measures like being armed on campus.
On March 9, 2021, the Kansas City Star editorial board suggested the effort to lower the carry age is “wrong for so many reasons.”
The editorial board spoke with Democrat State Rep. Stephanie Clayton, who suggested people who carry guns think they “could be the hero and shoot someone in the thigh and disarm the shooter and save tons of lives. But it goes so fast.” The board then contended against the lower carry age by pointing to a “long-accepted scientific observation that a teen’s brain is not yet fully developed — and may not be until age 25.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange
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