Republican candidate, Kris Kobach, has endorsed lowering Kansas’ legal drinking age to 18 and promised that if he’s elected Attorney General, he will challenge the Federal Policy preventing such a move. Kobach criticized a 1980’s Federal Law that threatens states with the loss of highway dollars if their drinking ages are below 21. He said he believes the U. S. Supreme Court is now conservative enough that it would overturn that law.
The issue arose during a debate between Kobach and the other two GOP Attorney General Candidates, State Senator Kellie Warren and Former Federal Prosecutor, Tony Mattivi. A viewer of the station livestreaming the debate asked whether the drinking age also should be 18, if people can buy guns at that age. Both Warren and Mattivi said the issues are different because gun rights are protected by the Constitution’s Second Amendment, while there is no constitutional right to drink alcohol.
