""Democrats push the same set of policy prescriptions after each horrific mass shooting like Tuesday’s massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Each time, Republicans claim that the problem isn’t guns, take umbrage at infringing upon Americans’ Second Amendment rights and stymie any move to even try to prevent future carnage.
""But as we suffer through yet another anguishing episode in our epidemic of gun violence, unique to the US, it’s time for a new idea — one based in evidence and data. Age-based restrictions that keep guns away from young men offer our best hope for addressing a genuine crisis and saving lives.
""There is one glaring connection between the Uvalde massacre and the racist shooting of 10 at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14: Both shooters were 18-year-old men. And this isn’t unusual. The shooter who killed 17 at a Florida high school in 2018? A 19-year-old man. The killer who ended nine lives in a Charleston, SC, church in 2015? A 21-year-old man. And it was a 20-year-old man who took 26 lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, only months after a 24-year-old man killed 12 and wounded 58 in Aurora, Colo.
""This pattern isn’t limited to mass shootings. While those between the ages of 14 and 24 constituted a little more than 16% of the population between 1980 and 2008, they were responsible for over 48% of the murders. Overall, those 18 to 24 consistently had the highest offending rate over the 28-year period. And the overwhelming majority of those responsible for homicides were male.
"The rate of suicide attempts is also highest between ages 14 and 21.
" 'There are good reasons for these statistics: The frontal lobe and other parts of the brain responsible for impulse and emotional control and judgment do not fully mature until roughly age 25 or 26. Additionally, 75% of people who develop psychiatric disorders will do so by 24, while the peak onset of psychotic disorders in men is just under 25.". . .
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