Raising the Age for Guns: A Solution to Shootings?
If human brains are not mature enough until 21 to handle alcohol and guns responsibly, they certainly are not mature enough to vote responsibly or command a 4,000-pound vehicle of death and destruction responsibly (“Meet in the Middle on Guns,” Editorial, May 26). Change those first.
As for not needing an AR-15 for defense of self, home and family, did you not see the multiple BLM riots with hundreds bent on wholesale destruction, and the politicians ordering cops to do nothing?
The idea that the Second Amendment is about hunting is a liberal myth. The Founding Fathers wanted the citizens of this unique nation to be able to defend themselves from outside threats and their own government. The only thing keeping tyranny at bay is an armed citizenry. The Founding Fathers knew that. A free man with a gun is a citizen — without it, he is a subject.
Brian Finn Stamford, Conn.
I was shocked, appalled and greatly saddened over the shooting and the killing of 19 children and two teachers in Texas.
Something must be done to protect our nation’s children from these mentally ill individuals.
Assault rifles should not be sold to the average individuals. There should be more intense background checks and mental-health tests for those wishing to purchase a gun. I also would like the age to purchase a gun be 21 . Our nation must issue and enforce strict gun controls.
I would like to offer my heartfelt prayers to the parents and grandparents of the children who were killed at Robb Elementary School.
Our American government must do something or more children will be killed in more massacres and slaughtered. Frederick Bedell Bellerose
Being raised as a country boy in upstate New York, I have a problem with your editorial.
My friends and I grew up around guns. I got my first .22 caliber rifle when I was 12, given to me by my father. I carried this rifle with me as I walked through the woods because there were many wild dogs and other animals that could attack me. So my rifle was for self defense.
When I turned 16, I got a big-game hunting license, so I could hunt deer and bear. My grandfather gave me his 300 Savage for big-game hunting.
So were your suggestions law in the 1970s, I would have been defenseless when I wandered around the woods and would not have been able to hunt until I was 21. That is ridiculous.
Jim Glaab, Elmsford
Why not increase the age to buy gun to 21? And when some buys a gun, we should enter their
name in a database.
At the end of the day, people in the United States need to ask themselves what kind of country they want to have. Certainly not one where it’s possible to shoot to kill or get killed anywhere. The world looks up to you, but this is not the way to lead.
Anant Nagpur Ottawa, Canada
In the wake of the horrific shooting in Texas, we see yet another round of elites calling for total disarmament of regular people, all the while depending on armed security personnel for their own protection.
That said, a 25-yearminimum age requirement for weapons purchases and a minimum of five years incarceration for the possession of illegal firearms might suffice.
Bearing in mind that a large number of the cases of gun deaths among young people involve accidents, unintentional shootings and suicide, gun-safety classes for handguns and a fresh approach to addressing depression and other forms of mental illness might be warranted. Mark Hartwig
Livingston, Mont.