Here are the Washington laws on ownership of rifles and shotguns by juveniles, according to the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action:
Persons under age 18 may possess a rifle or shotgun only if they have a valid hunter’s safety certificate and are older than 14, or are under the supervision of a parent or guardian or another person authorized by the parent or guardian.
Persons under age 18 may also posses any legal firearm while hunting or trapping with a valid license, participating in lawful target shooting or organized competition, attending a hunter safety or firearms training course, or are traveling to or from such activity with an unloaded and inaccessible firearm.
In the wake of the accidental death of a gun instructor in Arizona, many are likely asking how a 9-year-old was allowed to hold and fire an automatic weapon. But gun laws in the United States — specifically those concerning minimum legal age requirements for gun possession — are actually still surprisingly lax.
Here are the Washington laws on ownership of rifles and shotguns by juveniles, according to the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action:
Persons under age 18 may possess a rifle or shotgun only if they have a valid hunter's safety certificate and are older than 14, or are under the supervision of a parent or guardian or another person authorized by the parent or guardian.
Persons under age 18 may also posses any legal firearm while hunting or trapping with a valid license, participating in lawful target shooting or organized competition, attending a hunter safety or firearms training course, or are traveling to or from such activity with an unloaded and inaccessible firearm.
Federal law prohibits handgun ownership by any person under the age 18, with a handful of exceptions. But there is no minimum age for long gun (i.e. rifle and shotgun) ownership. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have set their own minimum age laws ranging from 14 in Montana to 21 in Illinois, but in the remaining 30 states it’s technically legal for a child to possess a long gun.
That doesn’t mean that a child can walk into a gun show and purchase a gun.
“There are federal laws for minimum age purchasing of firearms,” said Daniel Webster, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. “Technically, anybody selling a gun in that context should look for age verification that someone is at least 18 years old.”
But a child’s parent could. “If dad wants to give his son a rifle or a shotgun on his 13th or 14th birthday, he’s pretty much free to do that in most states,” Webster said.
It’s also perfectly legal in many states for children to fire guns of all types at shooting ranges, like the one where the accidental shooting took place Tuesday, so long as an adult or instructor is present.
The gun used at the shooting range incident, an Uzi, is a submachine gun that could be classified as either a handgun or a long gun depending on the model and any modifications to the gun. While federal law would prohibit minors from owning the pistol version of the gun, there are no such federal restrictions on the rifle version.
The industry pitch for the gun has revolved around the efficiency of its operation and thrill of its use.
Tuesday’s incident, however, highlights the gun’s potential for danger, and the potential danger in gun use more generally. Accidental gun deaths make up a significant portion of overall gun deaths in the United States. The good news is that while gun injury statistics are notoriously spotty (by design), gun fatality data from the CDC shows that accidental gun deaths have been on a steady downward trajectory since at least 1999. There’s a similar, though less pronounced, trend for all accidental gun injuries.
But it’s important to note that these numbers could be too low. A recent study found that federal reports of accidental child gun deaths are significantly underreported.
Webster believes that there are both cognitive and physical limitations in children that make it more difficult for children to understand and apply rules they are taught from a young age. “What they don’t consider are the developmental issues and physical abilities of children to actually follow these instructions. It was obvious to me when I saw this 9-year-old girl holding an incredibly powerful gun like an Uzi. Why anyone was surprised when she couldn’t handle the recoil is beyond me.”
