By Joe Pratt | LTVN Sports Director
Owning a gun in Texas is far too easy. At the age of 18, an individual in Texas has the right to purchase pretty much any firearm with proper background certification.
On May 24, a gunman walked into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, killing 19 children and two adults. The shooter owned two AR-15s and committed the deadliest public school shooting in Texas history. This occurred just days after the shooter’s 18th birthday, when he had purchased a couple of death machines as if he walked into a store and came out with a new T-shirt.
If the shooter had walked into a grocery store and bought 12 cans of beer, he would be in handcuffs. But if a person still in high school wants to buy a weapon capable of massacring over 20 people, it is his constitutional right to do so. With few exceptions, no 18-year-old in the U.S. needs a gun.
The last thing any parent wants to do is worry about whether or not it’s safe to send their child to school. On Tuesday, Waco High School was forced into lockdown after a false report that an active shooter was on campus. Many parents rushed to the school before even knowing it was a false tip.
School shootings are an issue that is not even close to being addressed correctly, which may speak to where the country’s priorities are. For example, on Aug. 25, a Forth Worth judge struck down a law that prohibits anyone under 21 years old from carrying a handgun.
Politicians focus too much on reelection rather than on improving the lives of the citizens in their district. In places like Texas, gun control will be incredibly difficult to change without angering people.
An 18-year-old buying a gun should never happen. In our current decade, there is a pattern of mass shooters in the 15 to 25 age range. Some may argue the age should be higher than 21 years old, but nonetheless, it should not be as young as 18.
