Regulations mulled to increase minimum age to purchase high powered guns

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – 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.

And that is prompting Congress and some governors and state lawmakers to consider raising the minimum age to buy such high-powered weapons.

Only six states require a person to be at least 21 before they can buy rifles and shotguns.

Advocates say such a limit might have prevented the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead and the racist attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York that killed 10 Black people.

Lawmakers in New York and Utah have proposed laws to raise to 21 the minimum age to buy AR-15-style weapons.

A similar restriction is expected in the U.S. House, where it has some bipartisan support. But it faces uncertainty in the closely divided Senate.