The Buffalo and Uvalde Gunmen Bought Their Rifles Legally at 18. From teamtrace
In the last two weeks, two tragic mass shootings were carried out by 18-year-olds wielding semiautomatic rifles: 10 people were killed and three others injured in the May 14 attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, andFederal law allows people as young as 18 to buy long guns, including rifles and shotguns, and only a handful of states have enacted laws raising the minimum age to 21.
The Buffalo shooting suspect wrote in his online screed that his father gave him a hunting rifle for Christmas when he was 17, and that he bought the rifle used in his racist rampage — a Bushmaster XM-15 — from an upstate New York gun dealer shortly after he turned 18. Both transfers were in compliance with state law. The Uvalde shooter reportedly bought two semiautomatic rifles soon after he turned 18, on May 16.
Research has shown that adolescents are responsible for a disproportionate share of the nation’s gun violence.Nonetheless, New York and Texas are among 44 states that allow 18-year-olds to buy long guns, including semiautomatic rifles, according to Giffords Law Center, which tracks state and federal gun laws.
Only six states have raised their long gun purchasing age to 21: California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont, and Washington State. Americans are meanwhile not allowed to purchase alcohol or cigarettes until they are 21. Possession laws are even more permissive. Twenty-nine states allow minors to possess long guns, including New York, Texas, Virginia, and Connecticut. Nineteen states set the minimum age at 18, including California, Florida, Michigan, and New Jersey.Experts have argued that adolescents lack the maturity to responsibly use firearms.
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