I believe that if you can fight for our country at 18, you can have a beer at 18.
Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered To 18?
- Thread starter Vito
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I happen to agree. My son is 19 and I allow him to have a beer every now and then (Just beer, no firewater). As a matter of fact we're probably going to have a couple tomorrow at the Yankee game.
As long as he doesn't abuse it (and he doesn't) then I have no problems.
As long as he doesn't abuse it (and he doesn't) then I have no problems.
No problem with beer, but once alcohol is legal, you can also have 18 year olds getting trashed on vodka or scotch. Its a slippery slope.
Kids will be drinking themselves stupid regardless of the law, I know I did. Regardless, I think it should be lowered. Teenagers in UK seem to be doing just as well as 21 year old here. Well, except for the whole massive keg parties that seem to be an American college phenomenon.
I don't buy into the OLD ENOUGH FOR SERVICE OLD ENOUGH FOR ALCOHOL thing though. It's a catch phrase that means nothing. Kids (18-21) shouldn't be drafted into the military, they are too goddamned young to really understand what they are getting themselves into -- but that is a slippery slope that I'm not willing to step on any further.
I don't buy into the OLD ENOUGH FOR SERVICE OLD ENOUGH FOR ALCOHOL thing though. It's a catch phrase that means nothing. Kids (18-21) shouldn't be drafted into the military, they are too goddamned young to really understand what they are getting themselves into -- but that is a slippery slope that I'm not willing to step on any further.
It's 16 in Germany (18 for spirits), and beer prices start at $0.40c - but it is an ingrained way of life. Very little trouble.
I agree. I'd even go as far towhy not raise the service age to 21
to say 25, so that recruits have the life experience to make an informed and educated decision.
It probably should be lowered. It would definitely help with sales for companies because most high school-college kids buy and drink anyway so why not make it legal.
What age are you able to drive at?
I think the fact that Americans are more car oriented in general makes the drinking age more sensitive. That said, laws against drugs and alcohol are hugely ineffective.
The driving age and alcohol age has all to to do with the building of the Inter State - I thought this was common knowledge? I think it is 17 in Germany.
If you use the argument that they will do it anyways illegally, then how can you (not saying you did, but in general, anybody who uses that logic) argue against the sale of legal guns... they will buy illegal ones anyways to kill people.
It's a bit different arguing that drink shouldn't be on sale to under-21s than arguing guns shouldn't be on sale at all. To use the example of here in the UK, if I'm 17 and want a drink, I just get my 18-year old friend to get it for me, or simply walk into a supermarket and pick the till operative least likely to ID me. If I want to buy a gun, I...uh...well, try to find my local branch of the Russian Mafia and ask them to sell me one and please don't kill me, comrade? Or I could...uhh...buy a toy and hope it somehow accepts real cartri...oh wait, I don't have any of them either.
But most guns used in crimes are illegally obtained, so I guess it is not that hard to acquire one as you make it sound.
Yes, and I'm not denying that there are some guns in the UK, both legal and illegal. But to put it in perspective, there was a total of 38 homicides committed with a gun in the UK in 2011. That doesn't exactly suggest that it's dead easy to get them, either.
Anyway, my point was that you were comparing the argument that making alcohol illegal at a certain age will just encourage those younger to get it illegally to the argument that making guns illegal completely (or even in the restricted sense we have in the UK) will just encourage people to get them illegally. Well sure there will always be a criminal element who will acquire them illegally, but making something outlawed is completely different to just age-restricting something. It means the supply is completely different. If you guys outlawed alcohol again then you would certainly get bootlegging rackets popping up everywhere, but do you believe that it would be the 16 and 17 year olds who were the ones leading the smuggling operations and running the speak-easies? No, because they wouldn't have a clue how to get connected like that. It would be a whole other level of organisation required to flout the law than just asking your 18 (or 21) year old brother to buy you a drink in the pub and bring it over to you.
If you want to compare outlawing gun ownership to something, you need to compare it to something else that is outlawed completely, not just something where you need to be a certain age.
Anyway, my point was that you were comparing the argument that making alcohol illegal at a certain age will just encourage those younger to get it illegally to the argument that making guns illegal completely (or even in the restricted sense we have in the UK) will just encourage people to get them illegally. Well sure there will always be a criminal element who will acquire them illegally, but making something outlawed is completely different to just age-restricting something. It means the supply is completely different. If you guys outlawed alcohol again then you would certainly get bootlegging rackets popping up everywhere, but do you believe that it would be the 16 and 17 year olds who were the ones leading the smuggling operations and running the speak-easies? No, because they wouldn't have a clue how to get connected like that. It would be a whole other level of organisation required to flout the law than just asking your 18 (or 21) year old brother to buy you a drink in the pub and bring it over to you.
If you want to compare outlawing gun ownership to something, you need to compare it to something else that is outlawed completely, not just something where you need to be a certain age.
Just because the cases are not identical does not mean it is a good comparison. I do not know about the UK, but in the US it is not hard to get an illegal weapon, and no political party is trying to outlaw guns completely. The point still stands: if the argument for restricting alcohol is weakened by the illegal market, so too is the argument for restricting guns. Yes, there are differences. But both are true, and people convieniently ignore valid points because of their personal bias.
Drinking age should absolutely be lowered to 18. I'm going to repeat the old adage already said a few times. If I'm old enough to serve and DIE for my country, I'm damn sure old enough to have a drink. Also whoever said alcohol and drug laws are highly ineffective, throw tobacco laws in there too and you have the trifecta
I'm not sure where the illegal guns come from... I don't know or care enough about that, but my hypothesis about gun violence in the USA vs UK has to do with culture, not capabilities. Unfortunately, illegal guns are a big part of the culture here.
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