21, the same age that we have for a hand gun. we know that one in every eight mass shootings includes an 18 to 20 year old. we also know that more than 60% of mass shootings include assault rifles. so, it only makes sense, it doesn t solve everything, but it s an important piece of the puzzle that we are gonna solve this mass shooting, taking of lives, 31 in the last ten days, in buffalo and uvalde, both by shooters under 21, 18 years old, with semi automatic rifles. we need to be urgent, and assess that with an active sense of urgency. congressman, according to the new reuters ipsos poll, 49% said they were not confident that lawmakers would strengthen gun laws this year. only 35% said they were confident. after two mass shootings in ten days, do you think anything will be different this time? look, what i think is that
shootings, but we do now. maybe, we are focusing our attention on the wrong thing. congressman, your reaction to the governor? he couldn t be more wrong. i mean, as you mentioned, you know, 72 plus percent of americans support raising the h two by semi automatic rifles. this is an assault weapon. to 21. already, federal law requires you to be 21 to buy a handgun. look, i was a soldier for 30 years. i went to iraq. i know the damage that the destruction of this semi automatic rifles. we don t need them in our neighborhoods, our communities, period. that s why states like maryland have been them altogether. but if we can t ban assault weapons, it certainly reasonable to raise the age to 21, the same age that we have for a hand gun. we know that one in every eight mass shootings includes an 18 to 20 year old. we also know that more than 60%
common sense solutions. you have to be 21 to by hand gun, but somehow you can get in ar-15 at fifth 18. this makes no sense. we need change. we talk about the influence of the nra and the hole that they have over the republican party. they have a fear of entering into a primary that ultimately becomes more competitive because this issue. tell me where you sit as a legislator, as someone who was looking to get things done. what is your experience of working with fellow legislators. what do you picture to be the intransigence on this issue. a government holding a redundant press conference on state services. he talks about how somebody broke the eyeglasses here. the state government can help the person pay for that. that s why i went over there. i was here at the time. i ran over to demand this special session because we have an effect list leader who was at the beginning, at the feet, of the nra for more money.
21? you know, i hope so. i think there s a lot of opeople that don t understand the gun laws from the perspective of this. in america, you have to be 21 to buy a hand gun and 18 in most states. there s basically no federal minimum of 21 for long rifles. so, you can when the law was made, you can understand, long rifles weren t ar-15s at the time because they kept the age at 18. you have to be 21 we just federally raised the age to 21 to buy cigarettes, by the way. when you tack a look at this shooting, the shooting before it, there s an epidemic of young men between the ages of 18 and 21 that are doing these kinds of things. i think one of the easiest things we can do to begin to do something is to say you ve got to be 21 to buy a rifle in this country. you ve got to be 21 to buy cigarettes. we need universal background checks. we need red flag laws with teeth. these are things that we can do to have that discussion move forward.
you could argue that restricting ar-15s by age, which is something florida did after parkland you have to be 21 in wyoming to get a hand gun. 21 to buy a hand gun anywhere in the country under federal law. but 18 for a more dangerous weapon doesn t make sense. you know, there s certainly a dichotomy in our laws over age restrictions for firearms purchases. hand guns generally are used far more often in crimes than long guns. that s been traditionally why they ve been scrutinized more severely. but like i said, after packland they did pass an age restriction on certain types of rifles like the ar-15. in florida. it s possible texas could go that route. whether that would have prevented the shooting is another question. he did use an ar-15. but you could kill people with