Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey said on Sunday he’s “very skeptical” about raising the minimum age for gun purchases.
Toomey, the Republican leader of your last bipartisan effort in Congress to reform gun laws, appeared on NBC’s "Fulfill the Press," where host Chuck Todd asked him whether he personally supported raising the age on assault weapons from 18 to 21.
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"I’m very skeptical that," the senator said, "for the reason that vast majority of 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year-olds are law-abiding citizens who aren’t a menace to anyone. So, I’m skeptical this. I’m willing to hear sleep issues on this, but I’m skeptical."
President Donald Trump has backed the very idea of improving the minimum age for getting weapons just like the AR-15 as a direct consequence within the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
"Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is at a mood to finally do something on this issue – I’m hoping!" Trump tweeted.
Toomey also discussed on Sunday the possibility that a bill sponsored by him and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) would purchase a vote within the Senate.
"I will be talking to Sen. [Mitch] McConnell about, concerning this in the week," Toomey said. "Time for the Senate schedule counts, particularly with our Democratic colleagues chewing a lot of that over noncontroversial nominees. But if we have now 60 votes, I do think that has to be a really compelling argument to have a vote, but we’d."
Toomey co-authored the setting check bill, which failed in 2013, pursuing the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
