21 should be the magic number

I’ve always been known for thinking outside the box. Ask the editors, managers and publishers I have served under.

I still think it would be a good idea to have more time zones so noon would actually occur when the sun was more or less directly overhead. And, I believe that idea may be picking up traction. Someone approached me with the same idea a few weeks ago. I applauded his intelligence. But I digress.

This idea is a little outside the box. It is an idea that has been tossed about concerning guns but I think it’s time to expand upon it.

I think it’s possible the idea of raising the age to buy guns legally to 21 could fly in Congress and the White House.

It is an idea President Trump has publicly mentioned without shooting it down.

After all, a 21-year-old may be out of college, probably four years out of high school and if he is a high school drop out and cannot pass a background check he shouldn’t be allowed to buy guns anyway. Strengthening background checks is another topic that should be considered and implemented.

Here is where the outside-the-box thinking comes in. Why not make 21 years old the magic age for other privileges/responsibilities?

I hate the idea of 18-year-olds dying in battle. Why not raise the minimum age to 21? It’s bad enough for any American to die in combat, defending his country but 21 seems a little more palatable than 18.

While we are at it, let’s give ladies a chance to serve in combat at age 21 and older. Anyone who thinks men and women shouldn’t serve together in combat needs to open their eyes. Israelis have made it the practice for decades.

Young ladies are no longer visiting over the back fence while baking an apple pie, waiting for their husbands to come home from work.

Twenty-one is already the legal age for buying liquor in Indiana. Why not make it the legal age for getting a driver’s license?

Yes, I can hear teenagers howl in anger but the information I have seen indicates many 16-year-olds are not emotionally ready to climb behind the wheel without an adult in the front seat with them.

Another privilege that may well be postponed until 21 would be that of voting.

I remember when the voting age was first lowered to 18. I was in college at the time and was so proud that “the man” (we didn’t call him that at the time) saw that we were smart/mature/able enough to choose our nation’s leaders.

Even though my draft number was so high the Vietnam War would have had to continue another 10 years before I was called up, I agreed with the idea that if I could be drafted at 18 I should be able to vote at 18.

Now, more than 40 years later, I believe the same. Only instead of thinking 18-year-olds should vote, I think both voting and serving in combat should be delayed a few years.

Frank Phillips is The Times editor. The opinions stated are his own and should not be attributed to the manager, publisher or owners of The Brazil Times.