The Scope of the 26th Amendment

There is currently a circuit split on whether states can prohibit 18-21 year-olds from having a gun. (I used this as an exam question years ago.) One of the points made in support of those challenging these laws is that the 26th Amendment should be read as reducing the age of majority for all constitutional rights, not just voting. Put another way, 21 was the relevant age in 1791 and 1868, but not after 1971.

Acceptance of this argument would have broader implications. Right now the 26th Amendment is a one-trick pony. Ratification simply reduced the national voting age to 18. But if you read the text more expansively, that brings in the argument that laws discriminating on the basis of age in voting are suspect. Attacks on state laws that, say, give preferential treatment to older voters have thus far not succeeded on 26th Amendment grounds. But maybe they will in the coming years.