This past Friday, the City Council for Austin, Texas, voted to pass a new resolution that could possibly consider bumping up the minimum age to buy and AR-15-style rifles from where it sits at 18 up to the new age of 21.
The voted approval was highlighted in the minutes of the Austin CIty Council meeting from June 16th, as read in a Fox News report.
“This was prompted by Uvalde, by Buffalo, both situations where you had 18-year-olds who were legally able to purchase AR-15s and wreak destruction and to murder other people,” stated Alison Alter, a member of the city council, to Fox 7 Austin.
This new resolution come out just two weeks after 19 fourth-grade kids and two of their teachers were murdered by an 18-year-old shooter who stormed Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The tragic event has brought forth quite a bit of public outcry from the American public for legislators to take action towards efforts to help reduce gun violence.
“Any life lost is a life that could have been saved by not having access to any AR-15 period,” Alter stated. “I am the parent of a student who’s in high school and anything that we can do to restrict access to AR-15 makes my son safer and every other parents, kids in our community safer.”
A group of lawmakers from coming from both sides of the aisle, which included Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), announced a recent agreement about a historic gun safety package near the end of last week.
“The current working plan “includes support for state ‘red flag’ laws keeping firearms from potentially dangerous people, tougher criminal background checks for gun buyers under age 21 and a crackdown on ‘straw purchases’ by people buying weapons for others who could not pass a background check,” as reported by Reuters. A change concerning the age to buy firearms was been excluded previously.
Nicole Golden, the Executive Director of Texas Gun Sense, issued praise for the recent effort.
“As our kids were supposed to be celebrating their last week of school, 21 lives were taken in an act of unspeakable gun violence at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas,” stated Nicole Golden, Texas Gun Sense Executive Director, as part of a recent statement.
“The announcement of the Senate’s move toward action serves as a way to honor the victims of Uvalde and the far too many who came before them. For nearly ten years, we have fought for sensible gun laws in our state, and that work will continue, as we urge lawmakers to build upon these advances to enact meaningful change that protects our communities,” she continued.
A few Second Amendment advocates have stood against the new measure, making the claim that the new gun safety law could infringe on the nation’s legal gun owner’s right to bear arms.