Rumors are circulating that President Trump is seriously considering implementing a new minimum age of 21 to buy guns similar to the weapon used last week in the deadly Florida high school shooting. The question then becomes at what age are American adults “safe” to purchase guns? 30? 40? Never?
The Hill reports:
Trump has said he would consider imposing an age requirement of 21 for people to buy guns like the AR-15 used in the killing of 17 people last week when a gunman opened fire at a Florida high school, a source close to the president said.
Still, the source noted that the discussions Trump has been having have so far been open-ended and nothing has yet been decided.
The Washington Post also reported that Trump was interested when commentator Geraldo Rivera, during a dinner, talked about upping to 21 the age that someone would need to be to buy a semi-automatic weapon.
During the White House press briefing on Tuesday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked whether Trump believes there should be an age limit for people who buy an AR-15.
“I think that’s certainly something that’s on the table for us to discuss, and that we expect to come up over the next couple of weeks,” she said.
On Tuesday, Trump said he has directed the Department of Justice to propose regulations that would ban bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic guns to be modified to shoot hundreds of rounds per minute.
“We can do more to protect our children. We must do more to protect our children,” Trump said during the announcement at the White House.
The sad reality is that there are people with mental health issues across all age brackets. If all 18 year olds cannot own guns because of what one of their peers might do, should we put the same restrictions on everyone else?
What do you think of this proposal? Would it actually reduce the incidents of school violence or is it just another excuse to chip away at the Second Amendment?
