CNN Security Analyst Argues for Denying Firearms to Young Men

CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem called for males under the age of 25 to be banned from having access to modern-sporting rifles in the aftermath of the Colorado Springs mass shooting at a gay club that was carried out by a non-binary person.

Anchor Erica Hill said while President Joe Biden wants to reimplement an “assault weapons” ban, she asked about the effectiveness of such a ban given there are around “24 million weapons of war in this country.”

“Okay, so you first keep trying to ban them. In other words, the political momentum is clearly showing that independents and generation lockdown, who came out in numbers this last election, may continue to come out on this issue. So, they are viewing gun legislation as seriously as pro-gun advocates have been viewing it,” Kayyem replied.

“The second is, of course, the delay in ages. I would like to get these weapons off the street, but in the short-term, if you could get both state or national legislation to prohibit 18- to 25-year-olds or 21-year-olds from purchasing this weaponry, you will limit the number of mass killings,” she continued. “Again, we’re not going to stop everything, but why wouldn’t you try to — to at least try to get things safer than they have been? And the data is just clear, just looking at the data, that 18- to 25-year-old male bracket, they should not be having these guns, period. There is just no reason to.”

Americans in most states are able to purchase long rifles and shotguns starting at age 18, with handguns being available at age 21. Not all mass shootings are carried out by AR-15s as the shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart was perpetrated by a manager using a handgun. Mass shootings in cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia often feature handguns as well, commonly using a “switch” modification that makes the handguns automatic.