As I explained before, I know I'm late to this party. But people are not done talking—so I've been jumping in.
No one seems to have the proper level of respect for 20-year-olds. I keep hearing the Butler shooter referred to as "a kid." Others are asking, "How could a 20-year-old manufacture the explosive devices supposedly found in his car without blowing himself up?"
At the risk of sending the FBI to his door, my 20-year-old grandson could easily and safely have made explosives. As far as I know, his gun experience may be limited to a few target shots at camp, but it would take him very little training and practice to get to the point where he could have made that shot. He wouldn't do anything of the sort, but he could have.
Has everyone forgotten that we routinely send 18-year-olds to fight in wars? That Admiral David Farragut commanded a prize ship in the War of 1812 when he was 12 years old? In the past, both men and women were routinely competent to do "adult" tasks at much younger ages than the majority of Americans teens are now. It is nothing but ageism to underestimate the abilities of a 20-year-old—or a 12-year-old, for that matter.
Speaking of 20-year-olds, the Secret Service director's suggestion that there was no Secret Service agent stationed on the roof from which the sniper fired because it was "steep" is clearly bunk. Since then we've seen several people, including politicians—who are not generally known for their mountain-climbing skills— walking around up there. What's more, I'm certain that the above-mentioned 20-year-old grandson makes a regular practice of scaling even steeper roofs as part of his work installing solar panels.
