‘They use them to shoot prairie dogs’: Senate Republicans say raising age minimum on AR-15 purchases not happening now

Rawstory

South Dakota Senator John Thune, U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua Seybert

Two of the most widely covered recent mass shootings were executed by 18-year-olds who legally purchased their assault rifles before slaughtering a total of 29 people. One specifically waited until his 18th birthday to legally purchase his weapons and ammunition.

But one of the top Senate Republicans negotiating with the Democratic-led efforts to hammer together a gun control deal says raising the minimum age for gun purchases isn’t even being discussed right now. In fact, many reports make clear if any legislation actually comes together, it will be as non-controversial as possible and also highly ineffective. One top GOP Senator recently said tightening gun restrictions “not gonna happen.”

In 2022 there have been 247 mass shootings to date. 18,821 people have died from gun violence in 2022 so far, including 716 children aged 0-17, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

CNN’s Manu Raju reports GOP Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina “suggested to me this AM they can’t get consensus on raising age to 21 for gun purchases…