Of course, there are exceptions when it comes to the legal age to buy a gun. Minors may possess or temporarily possess firearms due to activities such as employment or farming. The weapon used at the firing range, an Uzi, is a submachine gun that can be classified as a handgun or a long gun, depending on the model and modifications made to the weapon. While federal law would prohibit minors from possessing the pistol version of the gun, there are no such federal restrictions on the rifle version. „The laws are essentially not designed to protect children from accidental shootings of this nature,” Webster said. „There`s a mindset that`s pretty common in the U.S. that there`s nothing wrong with kids shooting guns.” New York State Sen. Anna Kaplan, a Democrat who co-funded her state`s age legislation, said raising the age to buy semi-automatic rifles would not prevent any mass shootings, but it was a necessary step for public safety. If you have to be 21 to buy alcohol or tobacco in New York City, you should also be at least as old to buy guns, Kaplan said. After the accidental death of a gun instructor in Arizona, many are probably wondering how a 9-year-old was allowed to hold and shoot an automatic weapon. But gun laws in the U.S.

— especially those regarding the legal age to own a gun — are actually still surprisingly lax. It is also perfectly legal in many states for children to shoot weapons of all kinds on shooting ranges, such as the one where the accidental shooting took place yesterday, as long as an adult or instructor is present. And such laws could be vulnerable to legal challenge. Last month, a U.S. appeals court in California struck down a blanket ban on the sale of semi-automatic rifles to adults under 21, ruling it violated the Second Amendment. California, which is expected to appeal the decision, still bans the purchase of long guns for adults under 21, with the exception of hunters or law enforcement or military officials. The perpetrators of two other mass shootings in the past four years were also under 21 when they bought the semi-automatic rifles they used in their attacks. In February 2018, a 19-year-old former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 people and injured 17 others. And in April 2021, a 19-year-old gunman killed eight people and wounded seven others at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis. Buying a semi-automatic rifle in New York now requires a license that is only available to people 21 and older. The gun laws Hochul signed will also strengthen the state`s so-called Red Flag law, ban high-capacity magazines, and prohibit the purchase of bulletproof vests unless the buyer is in law enforcement or the military.

For long guns, which include rifles such as the AR-15 and shotguns, the minimum age to purchase from a federally licensed dealer is 18. However, there is no minimum age to buy a long gun from a seller without a license. The Gun Control Act of 1968 regulated gun sales between states and abroad and enforced stricter licenses and regulations for the gun industry. The Act also defined new categories of firearms offences. In addition, it has made it illegal to sell weapons to criminals and other banned persons. While federal regulations establish a national base, states can set their own requirements for firearms, such as the California Firearm Safety Certificate. These laws vary greatly from state to state and should be considered if you plan to serve all of the United States. Many people noticed a common denominator between the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas: in both cases, the attackers were 18 years old and had legally purchased AR-type semi-automatic rifles.

Meanwhile, prospects for federal legislation to raise the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles are bleak. The agreement, reached over the weekend by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, does not contain any such measures. But a child`s parents could. „If dad wants to give his son a gun or a shotgun for his 13th or 14th birthday, he`s pretty free in most states,” Webster said. A mass shooting at a Florida school has sparked a new debate about whether and how to reform gun laws in the United States. Among the topics being discussed now is the age at which it should be legal to buy a gun that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Federal legislation in this area distinguishes between long guns (rifles and shotguns) and handguns, as well as between the possession and sale of firearms. Federal law also provides for stricter age restrictions on sales by licensed firearms dealers.

In New York, however, no permit or license can be granted to anyone under the age of 21 to purchase, possess or carry firearms, with some exceptions. It is also illegal to transfer a firearm to a person under the age of 21, unless they are exempt.