Can you imagine 20-year-old 2nd Lieutenant Audie Murphy coming home from Germany, wearing his Medal of Honor around his neck, walks into an Ace Hardware (who back then used to sell guns), tells them he wants to buy a Browning SA-22 semi-auto rimfire rifle, and they refuse to sell it to him because he isn’t yet 21 years of age?
The California law would exempt him, because he is active duty military.
That reminds me I got my first .22 back in 1961. I was fourteen years old.