Actually my point was that they weren't capable of making those choices without supervison. I think you will see that most of the people posting seem to agree they aren't quite adults at that stage.

No one will argue that there aren't a lot of bad parents out there. They grow up a lot while in the service because they have the tight supervison and are being taught values that they don't necessarily get at home.

And just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. I can go buy a handgun so I will? Look at all the shootings stemming from gangbangers, which could give a flying flip that the law says they can't buy or carry a gun, to see what a bad argument your handgun issue was.

It's true that even older people make misteaks in judgement, it's just their misteaks are fewer and further between. You want to learn from your misteaks but you also don't want to have to make decisions you aren't ready or capable of making.

 

would you rather give a drunk kid a gun and tell him to go drive around?

I'm not in favor of the current drinking age, but even when I was 18, I was smart enough to realize it won't go down as long as people tend to live long enough to turn 21. In addition, there is some wisdom in giving kids 5 years to get better at driving before letting them drive home from the bar.

 

I hadn't thought of that in the context of this conversation. That would go along ways towards explaining the higher incidence of alcohol related driving issues with the younger crowd.

I know for a fact that a younger driver can't handle the multiple inputs of loud stereo, friends in the car and driving very well. Impair their judgement even more with a little alcohol and instant disaster.

 

So lets raise the age of driving to 21 and be done with it.

 

I'm 19 and I don't think anyone between the ages of 18 and 21 should drink. We too many assholes in the world already and we don't need any more "by night".

I go to UC Santa Cruz. What I say is very apparent here.

 

Speaking from experience, as stated before, 18 year olds are not mature enough to drink--I've seen it too many times when they pour an assload of liquor with a splash of coke, oj, tonic water, etc...Followed by heavy vomiting, usually somewhere around my car.

 

Thats not what I'm saying at all...

But 18 year old(at a bar with friends) is much more likely to take it over board. Just because of the enviroment. They will be all excited they are out in public and girls everywhere loud music etc. I just see them getting absolutely hammered and making dumb decisions.

If your hanging out with buddies camping or just having some dinner or at the lake etc. Whats the huge deal. Driving drunk is illegal regardless of how old you are.

This goes back to my thoughts of some type of graduated system.

And I think the idea of someone buying some beer and going right out to the car and driving around while drinking is stupid. Never in all my days have I or even met or known anyone who would find this fun or be tempted to do it. "Hey guys lets go buy a 6 pack and drive around." "What? Your dumb" would be the answer to that. The bad decisions are made when they are already drunk, not sober. Give them some credit. It's the driving home from somewhere that is the problem. Underage drunk driving is already existant. We all know this. It is not hard for them to get beer and drink at parties and drive around. Most 18 year old know atleast one person who is 21. So point being the people who would buy alcohol at 18 to take to a party or whatever is going to be drunk at the party and potentially drive home anyways. Regardless or whether he buys it or his friend who is 21.

Also, if a drunk driver kills me, my family, friends, parents, how old they were will be my last concern.

 

Either you're old enough for the responsibilities or your not.

At what point are you an adult?

At that point if you do something wrong you pay the price, doesn't matter if your mature or not.

It should be uniform for all.

The 16,18,21 and if you murder tweleve people then your an adult at 7 is assinine.

 

Sounds good to me...Would definately be the easiest and make the most sense.

 

People should not be asked to die for their country at any age.
People should not be allowed to drink irresponsibly at any age.

The world is not a perfect place, let the sheep be sheep, and the wolves be wolves, you can't change it anyway.