Oregon Push To Lower Voting Age To 16 Partially Fueled By Gun Control

by Tom Knighton: Oregon is trying to out-weird California.

Now, considering California for a moment, that’s a bold proclamation to make, but I think they are. Worse, though, I think Oregon’s succeeding. Not only is it considering a bill that will restrict ammunition in such a way as to make guns little more than expensive clubs, but it’s also looking at dropping the voting age down to 16.

The reason, at least in part, seems to be to allow more anti-gun voters into the electorate.
Sixteen-year-olds can drive and pay taxes. Soon, they may also be able to vote in Oregon.

Legislators have proposed an amendment to the Oregon Constitution that would lower the voting age from 18 to 16. If the bill passes, voters would decide on the proposal in the 2020 election.

State Sen. Shemia Fagan (D-Portland), one of the bill’s sponsors, announced the bill on Monday.

“It’s time to lower the voting age in Oregon and give young people a chance to participate at the ballot about decisions that affect their homes, their clean air and clean water future, their schools, and as we’ve seen, their very lives,” Fagan said at a press conference.

Bill sponsors say they want the amendment to extend to federal elections.

Fagan pointed to the political activism of Parkland, Florida, students, who challenged lawmakers to tighten gun control laws after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last February.It seems pretty pointed that the reason is to bolster progressive ranks, particularly the anti-gun ranks.

However, as noted yesterday, these kids have been lied to about the risks they face. They face more danger driving to school than they do of being shot.

But anti-gunners don’t want them to know that.

Look, I have a 17-year-old son. He’s smart, and yeah, I think he could probably vote responsibly. No, I don’t just say that because he’s also pro-gun. I say it because he’s smart and is willing to ask questions on topics he’s unfamiliar with until he understands the subject. If he doesn’t, though, he also has a set of guiding principles that help to steer him straight.

Some of his friends aren’t like that. Many in his age group have no interest in the subject. More importantly, they’re easily indoctrinated by teachers. They lack the real-world experience to understand the bias and indoctrination for what it is and thus swallow it hook, line, and sinker.

This is made worse by the fact that as parents we tell our kids to listen to their teachers.

As founts of knowledge, at least in kids’ minds, they can tell them anything and the kids will believe it to some degree. Especially since their anti-gun rhetoric is also reinforced by the news media.

It’s not that kids are dumb, mind you. It’s that they lack experience.

Of course, most 18-year-olds also lack experience, I’ll admit, but they can also sign contracts and enlist in the military, so there’s no reason to deny them any rights.

But we also accept that 18 is the age of majority across the board. Dropping the voting age below that makes no sense…except as a way to bolster an anti-gun constituency.

I can’t help but wonder how they’d feel if these youths took an anti-gun control stance, though.

Meanwhile, this push to grant 16-year-olds the right to vote is happening against the backdrop of lawmakers also trying to prevent 18-year-olds from buying long guns.

I hate to break it to them, but governments have killed more people than 18-year-olds with hunting rifles.
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Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger at Bearing Arms.

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