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The U.S. House of Representatives is set to approve several gun control bills this week, including one that would raise the age when someone can purchase an AR-15-style weapon from 18 to 21.
The Senate is unlikely to approve the measure. But it still speaks to a growing movement to raise the legal age for purchasing firearms, following the Buffalo and Uvalde massacres, explains George Washington University’s Ashwini Tambe.
Though shooters in both incidents were 18 and able to legally purchase assault weapons, considering someone an adult at that age has a relatively recent and complex history, Tambe writes. And “it’s not clear that it can stand up to public scrutiny as a meaningful threshold for legally purchasing firearms,” she notes.
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A boy examines a gun at the National Rifle Association annual convention on May 28, 2022, in Houston.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Ashwini Tambe, George Washington University
The shooters in the Buffalo and Uvalde massacres were both 18, and legally purchased assault rifles. This is fueling calls to raise the age when someone can purchase this weapon from 18 to 21.
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Ethics + Religion
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Joel Christensen, Brandeis University
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Arts + Culture
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Clementine Fujimura, United States Naval Academy
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Health + Medicine
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Lauri Goldkind, Fordham University
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Steven A. Abrams, University of Texas at Austin
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Science + Technology
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Francine Berman, UMass Amherst; Jennifer Lundquist, UMass Amherst
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Silas Laycock, UMass Lowell
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Education
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Jonathan S. Coley, Oklahoma State University; Dhruba Das, Oklahoma State University; Gary John Adler Jr., Penn State
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Environment + Energy
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Jennifer Weeks, The Conversation
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