Should the age to purchase firearms be raised.

It appears that the age of many of the people involved (not all) in mass murders are under the age of 25.
20-year-old Adam Lanza of the Connecticut elementary school murders.
23 year old Seung-Hui Cho of the Virginia Tech massacre,
Eric David Harris, 18, and Dylan Bennet Klebold, age 17, of the Columbine High School massacre, and James Eagan Holmes, age 25, of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater slaughter.
The list goes on and on.
This significant number shares a similarity with the age of when schizophrenia rapidly declines.
www.schizophrenia.com...
Perhaps raising the age to purchase firearms should be raised to 26?

Yup let only 80 year olds be able to buy them.


Oh the thread is up, I agree with you.
How old is it now 21?

reply to post by Violater1


Well the question is were the guns his or did they belong to someone else, like his parents? Raising the age limit won't stop anyone from getting a gun. Well, the only person it stops is the true blue law abiding citizen who probably would never shoot up a elementary school.

Jeez....

No - they will still get them.

Pawn shops, friends, black market - Where there is a will there is a way.

reply to post by Violater1


I have no problem raising it to 25. After all, don't you have to be 25 to rent a car.

As far as the age of shooters...they are all usually under the age to purchase a gun anyway. They are either borrowing or stealing them. I don't foresee it bringing the number of shootings down by that age group.

I'm on the fence with gun laws but I do agree that making it 25 and up really doesn't sound like a bad idea.

Like all laws, they are put up in place because a minority of people are too stupid or too selfish so the majority ends up paying...however because of the consequences, this is a bit different.

Yes it would suck for honest and responsible young adults but this is tied to life threatening tools.

Errr...... Passing a new law won't change anything..whatsoever. Cigarettes have always been 18+ to buy in my lifetime....that didn't stop me from starting and smoking without interruption from when I was 13. Often times these guns are also stolen from a residential burglary or simply from a relative or member of the household where age laws make no difference at all.

Of course, there is the main and best reason that passing new laws is kinda foolish as a knee jerk reaction to these tragedies. That is the fact that guns were simply the tool used to commit mass murder. Murder is illegal in all states and with the harshest penalties society can muster against an individual for doing it. THAT law obviously didn't slow these kinds of people down one bit. Why would one more gun law to add to the bunch get in their way?

I think we should have a nationalized healthcare system so mentally ill people can actually get help a lot easier.

I started shooting before I was a teenager. I got my first rifle at 13, and my first pistol(inherited from my grandfather) at 16. I have never had to shoot anyone except in the line of duty. Age is irrelevant.

reply to post by Violater1


'The weapons used in the attack were legally purchased and were registered to the gunman's mother, two law enforcement officials said.' -according to nbcnews.com

I don't know if raising the age would help but until it's tested we don't know for sure. Maybe mandatory psych evaluations (heck, let the NRA decide on the questions asked in the evaluation) for household members or mandatory gun safes or safety locks? There must be some compromise, that although may not stop the violence, will at lease curb it.

I agree with the previos poster that mental healthcare should be more widely, and easily, available. Maybe some public service ads for a violence hotline like the suicide hotline has.

the way i see it, what ever age you can sign any document and be legally bound to it with out a parents signature you should be able to own or do any thing that a adult does.
this means 18, if you can vote, if you can join the military,you should be able to drink and you should be able to own a gun. if you want to raise age, the age for everything else should be raised.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


I understand your point on this.

I think it's weird that at 18, you can get credit cards, take out a home loan, and wrack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, yet you can't drink a beer to ease your pain afterwards.

The ages for things in this country are very weird.

reply to post by PrincessTofu

yes that's part of my point, but my main issues and i guess i should have made it more clear, if you can join the military and possibly die for your country, you should be afforded each and every right that any other adult has.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


You're right that it seems hypocritical.

They treat people under 21 like children yet they arm them and send them out to die.

I've noticed in the news that they slant their stories around that, also. When a victim is 18 or 19 they call them a teen but when the accused is the same age they refer to them as a man.

(Eesh, i'm sorry. I guess this is getting off-topic.)

reply to post by PrincessTofu

yep that's to build sympathy for the one and distaste for the other, just one of the ways msm likes to manipulate
people.

reply to post by Violater1


First........99.999999% of the 50 million Americans that own a gun have not went on a killing spree. Notice that the majority of the people that do this is done in a place where people will not expect it; malls, schools and movie theaters. There is not a gun violence epidemic. Do the math. If even half of the gun owners in the country did something like what happened today would completely decimate the population of this country. If you take the guns away, they will use knives. Take knives away and they will use blunt objects etc..... You get the point.

Second........I have been sick to my stomach about what happened today. I am completely heart broken over this. It amazes me how people reacted today about these innocent children being killed when there were around 3,700 babies aborted today. Everyone is looking at worldly ways to stop the violence. The only thing that will fix our people is if they humble themselves and seek God. Turn back to God and pray fervently for forgiveness and live the right way. Otherwise, these things will continue to happen. May God help us because I think the aforementioned will not happen.

Pray....Pray.....Pray!!!!!!!

My point is that many of these murders (excluding the people that obtained the weapons from a non gun dealer) have a psychiatric illness. It would have been better for me to say, Anyone living with someone that has a mental illness, should be scrutinized before allowing the purchase of a firearm, and that anyone under the age of 26, should obtain psychiatric clearance before being allowed to purchase a firearm.