DENVER — The King Soopers shooting in Boulder in March of last year. The Buffalo supermarket shooting three weeks ago – the Uvalde school shooting 10 days ago.
All mass shootings with multiple deaths, all committed with a semi-automatic weapon – all carried out by young men 21 years old or younger.
During his impassioned address to the nation about guns on Thursday, President Biden called for a range of measures to curb the misuse of semi-automatic weapons.
"Do something; do something. For God's sake, just do something," the president implored members of Congress during his address.
Among the President's proposals, raising the age to buy a semi-automatic weapon from 18 to 21. In the nation's nine deadliest shootings since 2018, six of the alleged shooters were 21 or younger. Five of them, including the King Soopers shooter, used semi-automatic weapons.
Lakewood-based forensic psychologist John Nicoletti said the troubling trend toward younger suspects in mass shootings can be attributed to several factors.
"They're out of school, meaning there's no one controlling them. So they're free-roaming, they can purchase weapons at that age, they're into the internet, and there are some neurological studies showing that not everything is developed inside the brain," Nicoletti said.
Nicoletti added that he supports raising the age to buy assault weapons to 21, but cautions that the effect it would have would likely be limited.
"It would lower the body count but it doesn't necessarily stop the individual who has the desire to kill," Nicoletti said.
In a statement posted on Twitter, the National Rifle Association (NRA) said "it supports substantive policies and real solutions that will make a difference."
But the statement goes on to say that "all that the President repeatedly proposes will only infringe on the rights of those law-abiding who have never, and never will, commit a crime."
The NRA's statement did not address President Biden's call to raise the age limit to purchase assault weapons.
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