The Bad Statistics Being Used to Justify Raising the Age for Buying a Gun to 21

In many states, Democrats are pushing to raise the age that people can legally buy a gun to 21 years old. The main argument in favor of this point is that 18, 19, and 20-year-olds commit firearm-related crimes at relatively high rates, and that is true. But it is irrelevant to the ban that they are pushing. The issue isn’t whether that age group as a whole commit crimes but whether those who can legally buy a gun commit crimes. After all, about 90 percent of murderers already have a violent criminal history and are already banned from buying a gun. The question is whether those who can legally buy a gun will commit crimes because those are the only ones affected by the ban. Data compiled for several states indicates that 18 to 20-year-olds who can pass background checks tend to be very law-abiding.