WYOMING – Sen. Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation on Tuesday that would reinstate the right for people between ages 18 and 20 to legally purchase a handgun from a federally licensed dealer.

Sen. Lummis announced the Second Amendment Mandates Equality Act, or SAME Act, with six Republican co-sponsors in the Senate and one in the U.S. House of Representatives, which would repeal an existing law that prevents adults under 21 from purchasing a handgun.

“The Second Amendment is a constitutional right and does not treat 18-year-olds as second-class adults,” Sen. Lummis said during the bill’s introduction. “In keeping with the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, the SAME Act would overturn our current restrictive anti-handgun statute and ensure equal treatment under law for adults under 21. Ultimately, if we trust 18-year-olds enough to defend our country and to choose our elected officials, we should trust them enough to purchase a handgun.”

The senator was referring to the District of Columbia v. Heller law case the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on in 2008 by a 5-4 majority that guaranteed an individual right to possess firearms independent of service in a state militia and to use firearms for traditionally lawful purposes, including self-defense within the home.

Sen. Lummis’s SAME Act – not to be confused with the States Achieve Medicaid Expansion Act of 2021 – introduced in February to incentive nationwide Medicaid expansion and currently sitting in the Senate Committee on Finance – is nine item lines long and solely consists of striking the age limit for handguns, but would retain the age limit for rifles and shotguns.