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When Missouri's concealed-weapon law passed in 2003, the minimum age for a CWP was set at 23. Legislation now on the table would lower it to 21.

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It was news to me that some states had minimum ages higher than 21. Several still do.

- Jim

Wow, reading that article it said that NM once had its minimum age for CCW at 25. Very interesting read.

I wasn't around for the debates, but I'm guessing that someone said that men in their early 20s were more likely to be impulsive and they had not demonstrated yet that they could handle adult responsibility.

As we see in Texas, people under 30 rarely get CHLs, for whatever reasons, and those who do are as law-abiding as older people.

There's always a problem with setting arbitrary age limits. Some people would be perfectly capable of exercising mature judgment at 16, and some never will.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:There's always a problem with setting arbitrary age limits. Some people would be perfectly capable of exercising mature judgment at 16, and some never will.

The highways bear witness to that every weekend.

Not to mention the 2008 elections.

At 19 through 23 I was carrying either a 38, an M9 or an M16 on gate duty, traffic control, or security at football games. There were a lot of us that young and we never went off our rocker. I tend to agree that depending on your upbringing, morals, and training, things will be handled differently by each. There are some that I think should never have a firearm.

Make it "shall issue" for persons over 21.

Then make it "may issue" for people aged 16 to 21. Those who are 16 through 21 apply through the sheriff's office and must include 3 personal references that are checked out.

I bet we'd lose all our reciprocity agreements if we did such a thing, though...

TheArmedFarmer wrote:Make it "shall issue" for persons over 21.

Then make it "may issue" for people aged 16 to 21. Those who are 16 through 21 apply through the sheriff's office and must include 3 personal references that are checked out.

I bet we'd lose all our reciprocity agreements if we did such a thing, though...

Wyoming does something similar IIRC (may-issue for those 18-20), and it doesn't seem to cause reciprocity issues, and New Hampshire and others are shall-issue over 18 y/o and it doesn't seem to be an issue.

Also, Texas already issues CHLs to military personnel over 18 without major impact on reciprocity, although AFAIK it is the main reason we don't have reciprocity with Washington.

Seven states that I would expect to honor Texas CHLs do not. They cover a big swath of the Northwest, Ohio, and West Virginia. I'm not counting places like California and the Northeast.

I don't know what specific issue is blocking full reciprocity with these states, but age is frequently mentioned.

I agree that it should be possible to achieve an agreement such as labeling under-21 Texas CHLs prominently, as is done with driver licenses. However, officials in other states have no incentive to do so.

Texas officials, particularly Gov. Perry and AG Abbott, have done more than duty required in regard to granting unilateral reciprocity to residents of other states.

- Jim