It’s less about age and more about mental state. If you look up the history on Nikolas Cruz, it exposes MASSIVE problems in the background check system that simply raising the age does not fix:
“A former classmate said Cruz had anger management issues and often joked about guns and gun violence, which included threats of shooting up establishments.[17]
The Florida Department of Children and Families investigated him in September 2016 for Snapchat posts in which he cut both his arms and said he planned to buy a gun. At this time, a school resource officer suggested[93] he undergo an involuntary psychiatric examination under the provisions of the Baker Act. Two guidance counselors agreed, but a mental institution did not.[94] State investigators reported he had depression, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However Psychologist Frederick M. Kravitz later testified that Cruz was never diagnosed with autism.[95] In their assessment, they concluded he was “at low risk of harming himself or others”.[96] He had previously received mental health treatment, but had not received treatment in the year leading up to the shooting.[97]
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel described Cruz’s online profiles and accounts as “very, very disturbing”.[97] They contained pictures and posts of him with a variety of weapons, including long knives, a shotgun, a pistol, and a BB gun. Police said that he held “extremist” views; social media accounts that were thought to be linked to him contained anti-black and anti-Muslim slurs.[97] Items recovered by police at the scene included gun magazines with swastikas carved in them.[98]
Sheriff Scott Israel said that his office received 23 calls about Cruz during the previous decade, but this figure is in dispute. CNN used a public records request to obtain a sheriff’s office log, which showed that from 2008 to 2017, at least 45 calls were made in reference to Cruz, his brother, or the family home.[102][103] On February 5, 2016, the calls included an anonymous tip that Cruz had threatened to shoot up the school, and a tip on November 30, 2017, that he might be a “school shooter in the making” and that he collected knives and guns. On September 23, 2016, a peer counselor notified the school resource officer of his suicide attempt and intent to buy a gun, and the school indicated it would do a “threat assessment”.[104][105][106]
On September 24, 2017, a person with the username “nikolas cruz” posted a comment to a YouTube video that read, “Im [sic] going to be a professional school shooter.” The person who uploaded the video to YouTube reported the comment to the FBI. According to agent Robert Lasky, the agency conducted database reviews but was unable to track down the individual who made the threatening comment.[107][108]
On January 5, 2018, less than two months before the shooting, the FBI received a tip on its Public Access Line from a person who was close to Cruz. On February 16, two days after the shooting, the agency released a statement that detailed this information. According to the statement, “The caller provided information about Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting.” After conducting an investigation, the FBI said the tip line did not follow protocol when the information was not forwarded to the Miami Field Office, where investigative steps would have been taken.[109][110] The FBI opened a probe into the tip line’s operations.[111]”
Gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety said in a June fact sheet that “data show that 18-to-20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 and older.”
Fox looked at homicide data from 2016 to 2020 and found that 18-to-20-year-olds comprise 4% of the U.S. population, but commit 17% of gun homicides and 16% of gun homicides by rifle.
“Gun homicides are particularly youth-dominated,” Fox said. “I would like to see the age (for purchasing firearms) be 25, which would be consistent with the data and what we know about brain development. At least, it should be the same as handguns, which is 21.”
The human brain doesn’t finish developing until people are in their mid-to-late 20s. The prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for executive control, including skills such as planning, prioritizing and making well-reasoned decisions, is one of the last parts to mature.
And yet Florida is still trying to allow more teenagers to have guns.
The prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for executive control, including skills such as planning, prioritizing and making well-reasoned decisions, is one of the last parts to mature.
Some presidential candidates have made it to age 77 without it maturing.
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