You're 18. You Can't Rent A Car, Hit The Club Or Buy Cigarettes — But You Can Get An AR-15.

Does this make any sense?
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Assault rifles like the AR-15 are civilian versions of military weapons. They are the weapons of choice in many mass shootings, able to kill large numbers of people quickly.

They were used to kill 10 Black people in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket and 19 elementary students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. And many, many more.

If you’re 18 years old, you’re not even really considered an adult in a lot of ways. You can’t buy alcohol or cigarettes. You can’t get into a lot of bars and clubs. Don’t think about becoming a Lyft driver, gambling in Vegas or going on a Royal Caribbean cruise alone. In the vast majority of states, you can’t even rent a car or smoke weed either.

But you can legally go out and buy an AR-15.

Even in the wake of the Buffalo and Ulvade shootings ― carried out by 18-year-olds with AR-15-style rifles ― Republicans in Congress seem wholly uninterested in raising the minimum age for purchasing such a weapon.

On Wednesday, the Uvalde pediatrician who treated the victims at Robb Elementary School confronted members of Congress with the consequences of their inaction.

“Innocent children all over the country today are dead because laws and policy allows people to buy weapons before they’re legally even old enough to buy a pack of beer,” Dr. Roy Guerrero said.

Here are some of the other things that are off-limits to teenagers who are legally able to buy an AR-15 (illustration by Colin Hayes):

Colin Hayes

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