2. Raise the minimum age to 21 to purchase a AR-15 style weapon.
My contention is that this is a knee jerk reaction.
What mental attributes does a 21 year old person have over a 18 year old person?
Do they not realize that a person 17 years of age can join the US military and be issued a automatic weapon. What do they want to do, pass a law that you must be 21 years old to join the military?
Again this is a knee jerk reaction by those that have not set down a looked at the issue.
As a veteran, I hate this argument. So much to the point that I believe it to be nothing more than a strawman.
There are tons of things one does in the military that doesn't automatically make them OK to do in the civilian world. For example, not all states allow one to transfer their military jumps (as in parachute jumps) into getting a skydiving licence. Basically, being a paratrooper doesn't automatically qualify one to be a skydiver.
When soliders are "issued" a weapon it is for two reasons; for training purposes, or for deployment. They don't get to take them home, or back to their dorm rooms. And when it comes to extreme gun control and gun restrictions we don't have to look no further than the military. The military is in total control of those weapons. When out in training, solider's are still required to have a Blank Firing Adapters, and sometimes accompanied with a safety block, on a all times. And when they are given live rounds, either on a range or deployment, EVERY SINGLE round is accounted for. Have you ever been on a range when one round isn't accounted for? Have you ever been on a base that has one weapon unaccounted for? I have. The entire base goes on lock down. Fast food restaurants and all.
The military can control an 18 year old with an M4. Society cannot control an 18 year old with an AR-15.
And don't ask me if the age if the military should be raised to 21. Not only will you not like my answer, but it is a topic for a whole other discussion.
Don't take this as a reason to raise the age to 21. Just a reason to STOP using the weak reason of the military as a reason not to.