Age Certification - why is this being required by gun forums?

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Skans

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I'm sure there's some law out there requiring a person to certify they are 18 before being allowed to enter gun forums. Does anyone know what law(s) were passed requiring this, and when it took place?

Seems pretty stupid - anyone can just say they are 18 and enter the forums anyway. But, more fundamentally, why shouldn't someone 16 or 17, who is looking to buy their first rifle when they turn 18, prohibited from learning about guns?
 
Just CYA, that way if some sleazy lawyer tries to sue, they can say "we have age verification" on the site.

It's like porn, all someone has to do is click yes on the site, and get all kinds of carnal knowledge for free.
 
This started happening all over the web once the "wise" legislators of California passed yet one more nanny state law prohibiting children from viewing gun advertisements. I can't even look at reloading components without having to submit a stupid age verification. All those shiny alluring bullets and all. California politicians in their infinite wisdom knew without a doubt that gun advertisements are more harmful to young people than social media and Legal cannabis that have no such prohibition on marketing.
https://real.cannabis.ca.gov/



https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litig...eb-safety-laws-colliding-with-first-amendment
 
Once again we have to deal with the idiotic mindset that guns (and by extension all information relating to guns are evil and "children" must be "protected" from knowing or learning anything about any of it.

Except in rural areas where common sense mostly prevails, and where children of 14 take hunter safety courses (Damn you NRA!! :eek: :D:rolleyes:) where they are taught basic gun operation and safety rules, and can get a small game hunting license at 14.

The law says you can't buy a gun (Federal, from an FFL dealer) unless you are 18 (long gun) or 21 (handgun) and some states have raised their limit to 21 for any firearm, but requiring proof of age for a gun site, or, for that matter, a freakin library is just CYA by the people who run it, and as far as I know, there is no Federal law restricting the age required for INFORMATION.

Half a century ago, I was taught, in high school physics the basics of how to make an atomic bomb. Its actually quite simple, the difficult part is obtaining the special nuclear materials needed.

Private entities can set almost any requirements to access their services that they wish. The law still has to at least pay lip service to "freedom of information" and the concepts of free speech. Today, anyway, tomorrow?? depends on who is making the rules.
 
Back when I was a teen in CA I used to drool over the gun advertising in Field and Stream but now many schools and libraries in CA won't carry politically incorrect periodicals. Of course with the internet, a lot of the gun rags are rather irrelevant and way over priced for the little actual content you get.
 
No, it's not a CYA thing, and it's not only gun related sites that require it. It's a law called the "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act", (COPPA).

Almost all operating systems that BB's and other sites run on have the option to deny registration to children under 13 YO, to allow registration with a parents consent, or to simply ignore the law. Most gun boards are wise to deny registration.

Now, the obvious question is how do we know when a 10 year old is registering as a 25 year old? We don't, and that shows how dumb the concept of enforcing the law is.
 
It's a law called the "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act", (COPPA).
Click to expand...

And yet that does nothing to prevent them looking at porn, on-line liquor sites, Tik-Tok, etc., all of which are a greater threat to kids than looking at a you tube about a gun review.
 
The law is what it is. We have no need to discuss whether it is effective or not in various situations.

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