Shootings prompt purchase age debate

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. >> 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. That's prompting Congress and some governors and state lawmakers to revisit the question of whether to raise the minimum age for purchasing such high-powered weapons.

Only six states require someone to be at least 21 to buy rifles and shotguns. Advocates argue that such a limit might have prevented the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead and the racially motivated supermarket attack in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10.

Lawmakers in New York and Utah have proposed legislation that would raise the minimum age to buy AR-15 style rifles to 21. A similar restriction is expected to move as soon as next week in the U.S. House, where it has some bipartisan support, but the legislation faces uncertainty in the closely divided Senate.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who chairs the National Governors Association, said the idea should be up for discussion.

“I think you've got to be able to talk about the AR-15 style weapons, and whether that's an 18 or 21 age,” Hutchinson told CNN this week. “You have to at least have a conversation about that.”

But Hutchinson, who leaves office in January, isn't pushing for the limit in his own state. Any proposed gun restrictions there are unlikely to find support among Republicans who control the Legislature.

“If we move to 21 and the shooter is 21, then they'll want to move to 25,” said Republican state Sen. Bart Hester, who will serve as Senate president next year. “We have established that 18 in our society is an adult who can make adult decisions, and I'm good with that.”