Trump Administration Decision Not to Criminally Prosecute Licensed Dealers who Sell Handguns to 18, 19, and 20 Year Olds. Showing that the Victimization Rate for Murder and Rape is Higher for 18 to 20 Year Olds than 21 to 23 Year Olds. That is Relevant if a Gun Ban Primarily Disarms Law-abiding People Relative to Criminals.

Gun control advocates have condemned the Justice Department’s decision to stop criminally enforcing the nearly 60-year-old federal ban on licensed dealers selling handguns to law-abiding 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds. Saying it will cause the loss of life. “That’s because young Americans are disproportionately likely to commit gun violence,” claims the GIFFORDS Center’s Executive Director Emma Brown.

It is true that those in the 18, 19, and 20 year old age group commits murder at a higher rate than those 21 to 24, the problem is that a gun ban is likely to disproportionately disarm law-abiding 18, 19, and 20 year olds compared to gang members and other criminals. If so, you would have a drop in self-defense with a relatively small change in crimes like murder.

The data below breaks down the murder and rape victimization rates.

In 2024, according to the CDC WONDER underlying cause of death; injury intent Homicide, there were 1,670 murders of those 18, 19, and 20 years old compared to 1,559 for those 21 to 23. That means that there were 7.12% more murders for those in the younger age group. If one adjusts for the population of the two groups, it still remains at 7%.

In 2024, according to the FBI Crime Data Explorer, 2024 national NIBRS master file there were 11,602 reported rapes for those 18, 19, and 20 years old compared to 8,799 for those 21 to 23. That means that there were 31.86% more reported rapes for those in the younger age group.

CDC WONDER underlying cause of death; injury intent Homicide; U.S. residents; all sexes, races, mechanisms and states; deaths in 2024.
Age	Homicide deaths	Population	Rate per 100,000
< 1 year	232	3,615,598	6.4
1 year	95	3,701,824	2.6
2 years	66	3,768,012	1.8
3 years	52	3,690,129	1.4
4 years	55	3,823,751	1.4
5 years	34	3,880,536	0.9
6 years	31	3,965,148	0.8
7 years	28	4,039,527	0.7
8 years	28	4,139,497	0.7
9 years	25	4,172,964	0.6
10 years	22	4,157,482	0.5
11 years	28	4,140,092	0.7
12 years	35	4,144,127	0.8
13 years	65	4,187,019	1.6
14 years	140	4,272,434	3.3
15 years	223	4,363,695	5.1
16 years	338	4,532,690	7.5
17 years	462	4,538,195	10.2
18 years	573	4,484,083	12.8
19 years	552	4,457,162	12.4
20 years	545	4,485,953	12.1
21 years	537	4,448,786	12.1
22 years	479	4,433,302	10.8
23 years	543	4,521,959	12.0
24 years	507	4,531,936	11.2
25 years	524	4,466,652	11.7
26 years	475	4,458,803	10.7
27 years	436	4,467,098	9.8
28 years	479	4,496,349	10.7
29 years	483	4,570,974	10.6
30 years	503	4,660,190	10.8
31 years	496	4,727,791	10.5
32 years	496	4,825,625	10.3
33 years	496	4,888,155	10.1
34 years	489	4,892,227	10.0
35 years	514	4,747,023	10.8
36 years	429	4,654,566	9.2
37 years	464	4,594,689	10.1
38 years	446	4,593,655	9.7
39 years	411	4,580,139	9.0
40 years	380	4,477,041	8.5
41 years	368	4,530,695	8.1
42 years	352	4,512,020	7.8
43 years	406	4,438,616	9.1
44 years	367	4,410,780	8.3
45 years	316	4,224,803	7.5
46 years	299	4,124,267	7.2
47 years	267	4,066,171	6.6
48 years	229	3,922,082	5.8
49 years	266	3,956,726	6.7
50 years	230	3,874,966	5.9
51 years	240	3,919,253	6.1
52 years	220	4,099,042	5.4
53 years	258	4,333,802	6.0
54 years	199	4,259,244	4.7
55 years	192	4,095,002	4.7
56 years	173	4,001,246	4.3
57 years	158	4,006,737	3.9
58 years	161	4,055,499	4.0
59 years	162	4,201,444	3.9
60 years	149	4,291,837	3.5
61 years	159	4,283,092	3.7
62 years	142	4,285,877	3.3
63 years	136	4,265,138	3.2
64 years	136	4,175,853	3.3
65 years	123	4,084,252	3.0
66 years	99	4,036,168	2.5
67 years	98	3,949,096	2.5
68 years	92	3,760,814	2.4
69 years	85	3,659,141	2.3
70 years	88	3,513,149	2.5
71 years	73	3,348,806	2.2
72 years	72	3,201,975	2.2
73 years	76	3,027,929	2.5
74 years	52	2,863,632	1.8
75 years	60	2,761,456	2.2
76 years	54	2,672,363	2.0
77 years	52	2,783,899	1.9
78 years	40	1,941,012	2.1
79 years	48	1,834,596	2.6
80 years	35	1,751,366	2.0
81 years	37	1,731,062	2.1
82 years	23	1,445,143	1.6
83 years	30	1,260,479	2.4
84 years	19	1,118,437	1.7
85 years	17	N/A	N/A
86 years	17	N/A	N/A
87 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
88 years	15	N/A	N/A
89 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
90 years	10	N/A	N/A
91 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
92 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
93 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
94 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
95 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
96 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
97 years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
98 years	0	N/A	N/A
99 years	0	N/A	N/A
100+ years	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
Not Stated	Suppressed	N/A	N/A
Total	20,162	340,110,988	5.9

2024 reported rape victimizations by recorded age Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, 2024 national NIBRS master file (nibrs-2024.zip), downloaded September 2026.
Recorded age (years)	Victimizations
0	130
1	235
2	556
3	1,277
4	1,779
5	1,882
6	1,732
7	1,623
8	1,667
9	1,627
10	1,753
11	2,164
12	3,590
13	5,115
14	6,376
15	7,429
16	6,734
17	5,460
18	4,464
19	3,846
20	3,292
21	3,214
22	2,947
23	2,638
24	2,563
25	2,395
26	2,335
27	2,188
28	2,149
29	2,056
30	2,027
31	1,934
32	1,884
33	1,870
34	1,898
35	1,820
36	1,698
37	1,628
38	1,537
39	1,425
40	1,394
41	1,309
42	1,208
43	1,121
44	1,016
45	1,046
46	882
47	831
48	687
49	660
50	631
51	563
52	544
53	515
54	487
55	403
56	353
57	374
58	379
59	333
60	274
61	252
62	255
63	236
64	195
65	191
66	158
67	159
68	137
69	98
70	103
71	88
72	81
73	76
74	65
75	65
76	56
77	58
78	36
79	43
80	50
81	50
82	46
83	39
84	30
85	27
86	23
87	20
88	22
89	15
90	18
91	14
92	6
93	7
94	10
95	7
96	5
97	6
98	5
99+	32
Unknown age	925
All ages, including unknown	121,656
Ages 15–30	55,737