While I am always on the lookout for 2A news, sometimes a worthy item simply appears in my inbox. I’m not sure how it happened, but I somehow wound up on a PR firm’s email blast list. The client was yet another anti-gun group, this one with ties to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Abbey Clements was a teacher at Sandy Hook on that December day. In the aftermath, she got involved with Shannon Watts’ Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Control.
At a Guns Down America event, Ms. Clements met Sarah Lerner, who was teaching at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when the killer attacked. Together, they founded Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence in 2022. Ms. Clements is currently the group’s executive director.
According to the group’s website, Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence, “envisions a future where every school in the United States is a safe haven and a safe learning environment for every child, and where all citizens live without the fear and trauma of gun violence.”
Hardly a unique mission statement. That’s reasonable since it’s hardly a unique group.
Based on the website, the group’s primary activities seem to be assisting educators to promote gun control and endorsing candidates.
When the Department of Justice announced it would no longer enforce the Gun Control Act of 1968’s ban on handgun sales to adults under 21, Abbey Clements released the following statement via email:
“Firearms are the leading cause of death of children and this decision does absolutely nothing to fix this shameful problem. This shocking decision from the Department of Justice to allow handgun sales to young people is more of the same guns everywhere agenda from the gun lobby that makes our schools less safe and will lead to more gun violence in our communities.”
There’s no reason to discuss the claim about the “leading cause of death” claim. It’s been thoroughly debunked elsewhere.
On the other hand, the “shocking decision” assertion is shocking only because Ms. Clements apparently is unaware of the fact that, depending on state laws, 18, 19, and 20-year-olds have always been allowed to buy handguns.
18 USC 922(b)(1) applies only to federally licensed dealers, manufacturers, importers, and distributors. Private sales, gifts, or purchases from family members and friends are perfectly legal.
There aren’t as many today as there were before the Gun Control Act of 1968, but there are still 23 states that allow citizens as young as 18 to buy a pistol or revolver. Two more states, Alabama and New Mexico require a person to be 19.
After the 1968 law became effective. A number of states raised their minimum ages to 21 to be consistent with federal statutes. In those states, it doesn’t matter what the DOJ does, adults in the 18-20 age group will still be barred from dealer handgun sales by state laws.
It is highly likely to require a ruling from the Supreme Court to settle this.
In the real world, those in the 18-20 age bracket have been able to buy handguns since colonial times. Handguns generally weren’t an issue because economic realities dictated purchasing more useful long guns.
What was amusing was Ms. Clements’ assertion that the Department of Justice was carrying out the “guns everywhere agenda” of the Evil Overlords of the Gun Lobby.
Of course, she’s upset the DOJ is no longer being Sancho Panza to Michael Bloomberg’s Don Quixote. Or a “made man” for the Gun Control Mafia. Considering the huge imbalance in spending on promoting gun control measures, maybe the second analogy is more accurate.
Perhaps the ultimate irony is Ms. Clements is a Sandy Hook survivor yet doesn’t appear to understand that the Sandy Hook killer wouldn’t have been affected by any of the measures she espouses.
He didn’t buy his guns. He tried to buy one through a local FFL, but didn’t want to wait two weeks for the Connecticut State Police to vet him.
So he murdered his mother; stole multiple guns; and stole her car. He had committed at least one capital offense under Connecticut law before he even got to Sandy Hook.
Magazine capacities weren’t an issue as reports say he was reloading magazines before they were empty.
An unpleasant fact gun-grabbers will try avoid is that in the first year of Donald Trump’s second term in office, the murder rate plunged enough to wipe out a small increase in suicides.*
That’s right: Violence, including “gun violence,” actually fell in 2025 without passage of any of the of measures on the gun control wish list.
We really need to attack the echo chamber that is gun control in America today. They haven’t – or won’t – learned anything.
*Based on preliminary suicide data compiled by KFF and 09A Murder data from the FBI’s “Crime in the United States Report.”
Editor’s Note: Eligible adults as young as 18 already had lawful routes to purchase handguns from private sellers in at least 29 states, subject to state transfer requirements. The federal restriction targeted licensed sellers; it was never a nationwide prohibition on handgun ownership or acquisition by everyone under 21.
About Bill Cawthon
Bill Cawthon first became a gun owner 55 years ago. He has been an active advocate for Americans’ civil liberties for more than a decade. He is the information director for the Second Amendment Society of Texas.
