Smith pre-files bill to limit gun purchases for teenagers

Bill would prohibit sale of semi-automatic firearms to those under 20

Rep. David Tyson Smith (Tim Bommel/House Communications)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — State Rep. David Tyson Smith prefiled legislation Thursday to prohibit teenagers from purchasing semi-automatic or automatic weapons.

“In the past few months, we have seen truly horrific acts of violence committed by deeply mentally unstable teenagers using firearms they legally purchased,” Smith said. “Had this bill been in place, the mass shooter who terrorized Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis in October would not have been able to obtain the firearm he used to kill a student and a teacher.”

House Bill 208 will make it a class A misdemeanor for anyone under the age of 20 to buy or lease a semi-automatic or automatic firearm. Similarly, it will also become a class A misdemeanor to sell or lease a semi-automatic or automatic firearm to someone under 20.

Smith saw a need for this legislation given a particularly startling rise in mass shooting assailants in their late teenage years and even into their early 20s. The New York Times reported in June that since 2018, six of the nine deadliest mass shootings in the United States were committed by people who were 21 or younger.

Smith added that lethal shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas in May 2022 also contributed to his decision to file this piece of legislation this year. The shooters in Buffalo and Uvalde were both 18 years old when they perpetrated those shootings, and they both legally purchased the firearms they used to kill 10 and 21 people, respectively.

“While we cannot stop all gun violence we can mitigate it, and one way we can do that is by limiting the sale of lethal weapons to those who may not yet have the developmental stability to use them responsibly,” Smith said.