Should 18-year-olds be allowed to buy semi-automatic rifles? State and courts debate

The mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y. last Saturday has renewed the debate over the minimum age for legally purchasing what some people — such as President Biden, call "weapons of war." An 18-year-old is accused of driving to a supermarket and targeting African Americans as he opened fire, killing 10 people. He's charged with first-degree murder in a shooting authorities describe as racially-motivated domestic terrorism. Police say he used a semi-automatic rifle called the Bushmaster XM-15, which he bought legally at a licensed gun store, after passing a background check. In a statement investigators believe the 18-year-old wrote and posted online, he says he modified the rifle in ways that would make it illegal under New York's definition of "assault weapons." New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed Wednesday to address domestic terrorism and gun violence by establishing a new state law enforcement unit focused on domestic terrorism, among other steps.

But one question remains: Should an 18-year-old be allowed to buy a semi-automatic rifle? In the last couple of years, California, Florida and Washington state have responded to the string of mass shootings by young men by raising the minimum age to buy certain kinds of rifles, such as the Bushmaster. Gun rights groups, meanwhile, have sued, calling this a violation of young adults' Second Amendment rights. Last week, a panel of three federal judges in California agreed, overturning the higher minimum age approved by the state last year. "There's a big fight brewing over these restrictions on guns for 18, 19, and 20-year-olds because the courts are in the midst of a great expansion of Second Amendment gun rights," says Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor who writes about gun policy. The author of the California law, state Sen. Anthony Portantino, says he hopes the state attorney general appeals the federal ruling. "It makes sense to appeal. This is a fight worth fighting, and again, look at what happened in Buffalo," he says. "You have to be 25 to rent a car. You have to be 21 to drink. Why would we put a semi-automatic rifle in the hands of a teenager?