Shootings prompt debate on purchase age for AR-style rifles
The gunmen in two of the nation’s most recent mass shootings legally bought the semi-automatic rifles they used in their massacres after they turned 18. That’s prompting Congress and some governors and state lawmakers to revisit the question of whether to raise the minimum age for purchasing such high-powered weapons.
Only six states require someone to be at least 21 years old to buy rifles and shotguns. Advocates argue that such a limit might have prevented the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead and the racially motivated supermarket attack in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10.
Lawmakers in New York and Utah have proposed legislation that would raise the minimum age to buy AR-15 style rifles to 21. A similar restriction is expected to move as soon as next week in the U.S. House, where it has some bipartisan support, but the legislation faces uncertainty in the closely divided Senate.