Citizens can die in war at 18, but not carry guns

At 18 an Oklahoman citizen may vote, be tried and sentenced as an adult, enlist in the armed forces and risk his life for his country, and if male, is required to register for the draft.

Legislation is in the state house to allow them to carry concealed weapons, but as of now they may not.

They can go in the military and operate everything from a 9mm pistol to a billion dollar M1 tank in combat, but can’t carry a pistol when they come home.

In 1984 the National Minimum Drinking Age Act required states to raise the drinking age to 21 or lose federal transportation money

This was unconstitutional, and illegal coercion of the states by Congress. Read the Constitution; it does not give the federal government the authority to decide who drinks what.

That is why they had to threaten to keep our own money from us to make it happen. In 1985 Oklahoma tucked in its tail and changed the age to 21.

Every day veterans, American heroes, return from Iraq with every thing from multiple amputations to an early grave who are not old enough to buy a beer or carry a pistol.

Park outside Reynolds Army Community Hospital, The Veterans Affairs clinic on Fort Sill, or the Veterans Center on Flower mound road until you see a veteran under 21 in a wheelchair, on crutches, or walking on prosthetic limbs.

Then explain to me why they can’t buy a beer, or carry a pistol to defend themselves and their families.

Go out to the Fort Sill National cemetery and read the dates of birth of the heroes buried there do the math then justify the fact that they died second-class citizens, with all of the responsibilities of adults and only some of the rights and freedoms.

Please support the bill to lower the concealed carry permit age. Call or write your representative to get the drinking age on the ballot.

Let Oklahomans decide. We can fight the federal government in the courts when it passes.

The only requirement for this gross injustice to continue is that good people do nothing.

Brian Simms

Lawton