To make gun and car ownership more simpatico, we should first make concealed carry licenses reciprocal between all 50 states. The anti-gun crowd objects to this on the grounds that concealed carry licensing standards are inconsistent between the states, and that all driver’s licenses are the same. But a quick web search for state driver’s licensing requirements show that the standards each state enforces vary quite a bit…and despite these differences, a driver’s license from Alaska is still perfectly valid in Florida. So using the “treat guns like cars” standard, shouldn’t a concealed carry permit from Mississippi be valid in New Jersey, for example? Instead, when it comes to concealed carry, people who have never even read the Constitution go all “states’ rights” and forget all about the differences in drivers’ licensing.

(And don’t even try to use the RealID program to argue about licensing standards. With RealID, the licensing document itself must meet certain formatting requirements, but has nothing to do with actual driving ability. If my driver’s license does not have certain physical characteristics I cannot use it to ride on…not fly…an airplane from Cincinnati to San Antonio. But I can still use it to drive my car from Cincinnati to San Antonio. Common sense!)

But let’s not stop there in our quest to make gun ownership and car ownership more similar. Any adult, 18 years of age or more, can buy a car any time they want. Under current federal law, it is illegal for a person under the age of 21 to purchase a handgun…not like cars at all! In nearly every other aspect of life, we consider 18 to be the age of adulthood. An 18-year old can join the military, vote, buy a rifle or shotgun (according to Federal law)…or a car. Why not a handgun?