Federal judge strikes down law barring gun sales to young adults



A federal judge in Virginia has ruled a law barring handgun sales to adults under age 21 unconstitutional, WAVY reported.

Like other rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, the Second Amendment protections "vest" prior to age 21, U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Payne wrote in his 71-page ruling Wednesday.

"If the Court were to exclude 18-to-20-year-olds from the Second Amendment’s protection, it would impose limitations on the Second Amendment that do not exist with other constitutional guarantees," the George H.W. Bush appointee also wrote.

The case, brought by John Corey Fraser, then 20, and others against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, stemmed from Fraser's attempt to purchase a Glock 19x handgun from a federal firearms licensed dealer in May 2022. The FFL dealer, as the law demanded, refused the sale based on Fraser's age.

In his own ruling, Judge Payne repeatedly cited the United States Supreme Court's landmark 2022 decision in Bruen v. New York State Rifle & Pistol Association. According to the Bruen decision, a major victory for gun rights advocates, courts must evaluate the country's history and tradition of firearms regulation in rendering decisions about the constitutionality of a gun restriction, as noted by Fox News Digital.

Judge Payne found that the federal law keeping citizens ages 18, 19, and 20 from buying handguns did not comport with any such established history and tradition.

He laid out distinctions between the delayed privileges of adulthood such as alcohol and tobacco use and the right to keep and bear arms. The former, he said, involve no constitutionally protected right; therefore, legislatures can impose reasonable regulations on them. Restrictions on the latter, in contrast, should not be afforded such judicial deference.

Quoting the District of Columbia v. Heller decision, Judge Payne noted, "The Second Amendment 'is the very product of an interest balancing by the people' and it 'surely elevates above all other interests the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms' for self-defense."

In other words, the Second Amendment should be afforded the same respect as the others, whether the citizen is 18 or 118 years old.

"The government simply has not met its burden to support the finding that restrictions on the purchasing of firearms by 18-to-20-year-olds is part of our Nation's history and tradition."

"Even though it ensures that future buyers can now purchase these firearms in the federal system — one that includes background checks and other requirements — we expect the defendants will appeal," Elliott Harding, Fraser's attorney, told KUSA, adding he is optimistic that Judge Payne's will be upheld.

Judge Payne's decision would take effect when he issues his final order, which is expected in the next few weeks, according to the New York Times.
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Marijuana & hallucinogen use at all-time high among young adults, teen drug use at all-time low



Drug use fell significantly among teenagers last year while rising among young adults, according to surveys out of the University of Michigan. The drop in teenage drug use was the largest ever recorded in the 46 years since the Monitoring the Future (MTF) Study began surveying high school students.

The surveys show that "marijuana and hallucinogen use in the past year reported by young adults 19 to 30 years old increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago, reaching historic highs in this age group since 1988."

Researchers also found that “the percentage of youth who had ever used any illicit drug other than marijuana decreased by more than 25% in 2021. Specifically, in 12th grade this percentage was 27% smaller in comparison to the previous year, in 10th grade the decline was 31%, and in 8th grade the drop was 30%.”

A research team of professors at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research has conducted annual surveys of students in grades 8, 10, and 12 since 1975. The survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has included young adults 19 to 30 years old since 1988. Participants self-report their drug use behaviors across three time periods — lifetime, past year (12 months), and past month (30 days).

Richard Miech, the principal investigator of the study and a research professor at the Institute for Social Research, attributed those drops to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Among the many disruptions adolescents have experienced as a result of the pandemic are disruptions in their ability to get drugs, disruptions in their ability to use drugs outside of parental supervision, and disruptions in peer groups that encourage drug use," Miech said. "As a result, this year, it appears that a sizable portion of adolescents have not used drugs who otherwise may have done so."

Reason disputes this proposed causation, noting that “the pandemic does not explain why past-month psychedelic use rose slightly or remained about the same among teenagers in 2020, when more schools were closed than in 2021. Nor does it explain the long-term decline in adolescent marijuana use.”

The MTF study also collected data on drug use reported by adults 35 to 50 years old, college/non-college young adults, and various other demographic groups.

After Year Of Lockdown, Youth Suicide, Self-Harm, And Mental Health ER Visits Skyrocket

Even as Americans resume their pre-pandemic lives, they say, 'We are still in the thick of the fallout from COVID-19 and [should] expect children and teens [to] continue to struggle.'
Why Young Adults Are Refusing to Work | Ep 424

Why Young Adults Are Refusing to Work | Ep 424

Share of young adults living with their parents highest ever recorded



The share of young adults in the U.S. who live with their parents is the highest ever recorded, according to a recently released Pew Research analysis.

The topline

The report found that a majority — 52% — of adults ages 18-29 are residing at home with at least one parent. The percentage, measured in July, beat the previous record of 48% set at the end of the Great Depression in 1940.

Pew cites the coronavirus pandemic as the main driver of the increase, which brings the total number of young adults living at home to 26.6 million, up 2.6 million from February.

It should be noted, however, that the number was already near historic levels before the pandemic, as 47% of adults ages 18-29 reported living at home in February, just one percentage point off from the highest Great Depression numbers.

Pew reported that the increase affected all major demographics but was sharpest among young white adults and those ages 18-24.

"The number and share of young adults living with their parents grew across the board for all major racial and ethnic groups, men and women, and metropolitan and rural residents, as well as in all four main census regions," the report stated.

The share of U.S. young adults living with their parents is now higher than any previous measurement. Before 2020,… https://t.co/HfzckJCEeO
— Pew Research Center (@Pew Research Center)1599230582.0

The pandemic has hit the younger demographic particularly hard, as many college campuses have closed down due to health concerns and job prospects have been erased. One-quarter of those ages 16-24 have lost their jobs since the start of the pandemic.

The coronavirus-related shutdowns have also had an adverse effect on the mental welfare of this population group.

In August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a whopping 25.5% of adults ages 18-24 considered suicide in June, a figure eerily similar to the number of those who lost their jobs.

The survey also found that young adults were disproportionately dealing with a host of other mental health issues, such as "symptoms of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder, COVID-19-related [trauma- and stressor-related disorder] TSRD, initiation of or increase in substance use to cope with COVID-19-associated stress."

In a bit of good news for the economy, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.4% in August, marking the first time unemployment has been recorded in the single digits since March. The economy also continued its slow climb back by adding 1.4 million jobs.

Young people can be intimidated by social media messages that use periods — yes, periods — since they apparently signal anger, linguists say



Social media messages using periods, believe it or not, can intimidate teens and young adults, who interpret such punctuation as a sign of anger, the Daily Mail reported, citing linguists.

Say. It. Ain't. So.

It seems the aforementioned age group — otherwise known as Generation Z — has grown up with smartphones they use to send short messages without periods, the outlet said.

According to a 2015 study from State University of New York, Binghamton, those who finish messages with periods are viewed as insincere, the Daily Mail said, adding that the debate resurfaced after writer Rhiannon Cosslett tweeted: "Older people — do you realize that ending a sentence with a full stop comes across as sort of abrupt and unfriendly to younger people in an email/chat? Genuinely curious."

The outlet said several Twitter users couldn't believe it — particularly because Cosslett's own tweet ended with a full stop (i.e., period). One Twitter user even accused her of "peak snowflakery," the Daily Mail said.

Enter crime novelist Sophie Hannah, who replied, "Just asked 16-year-old son — apparently this is true. If he got a message with full stops at the end of sentences, he'd think the sender was 'weird, mean or too blunt,'" the outlet said.

Experts say young people used electronic communication to break up their thoughts by sending each one in a separate message without punctuation — and the only time a period is used is when they want to communicate annoyance or irritation, the Daily Mail said.

In regard to the SUNY Binghamton study, which surveyed 126 undergraduates, research found that text messages ending in periods were perceived as less sincere while those ending in exclamation points were seen as heartfelt or more profound, the outlet said.

The researchers therefore concluded that punctuation "is one cue used by senders, and understood by receivers, to convey pragmatic and social information" such as irritation, the Daily Mail said.

"When speaking, people easily convey social and emotional information with eye gaze, facial expressions, tone of voice, pauses and so on," research leader Celia Klin said, the outlet noted. "People obviously can't use these mechanisms when they are texting. Thus, it makes sense that texters rely on what they have available to them — emoticons, deliberate misspellings that mimic speech sounds and, according to our data, punctuation."

Owen McArdle, a University of Cambridge linguist, told the Telegraph that periods "are, in my experience, very much the exception and not the norm in [young people's] instant messages, and have a new role in signifying an abrupt or angry tone of voice," the Daily Mail said.

More from the outlet:

Professor David Crystal, one of the world's leading language experts, argues that the usage of full stops is being "revised in a really fundamental way."

In his book, "Making a Point," he says that the punctuation mark has become an "emotion marker" which alerts the recipient that the sender is angry or annoyed.

He wrote: "You look at the Internet or any instant messaging exchange — anything that is a fast dialogue taking place. People simply do not put full stops in unless they want to make a point. The full stop is now being used in those circumstances as an emotion marker."

This writer's perspective!

Ah, youth (Look Ma! No period!)

I fondly recall in the previous century when folks commonly ended sentences and complete thoughts with periods, and no one got offended. (Sorry, kids) Now a "full stop" means the writer is, well, mean? May it never be!

I'm not sure Elaine from "Seinfeld" had a problem using the period, but her publishing company boss sure didn't like her overuse of the exclamation point!

Elaine and Mr. Lippman - Exclamation points youtu.be

Or her guy pal!

Seinfeld - Exclamation Point youtu.be

Young ones, take heed :)