Shannon Watts Criticizes Texas for Not Raising AR-15 Purchase Age to 21 (Mall Shooter Was 33)

In the wake of Saturday’s Allen, Texas, mall shooting, Mike Bloomberg gun control affiliate Shannon Watts criticized Lone Star lawmakers for not raising the minimum purchase age for AR-15s to 21.

The individual who opened fire on mall-goers was 33.

On Monday, Watts tweeted: “Texas could have raised the age to buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21 this legislative session. Instead they voted to incentivize arming teachers, put guns in polling places, and now to remove even more obligations from gun owners to be responsible and have accountability.”

Breitbart News reported that the suspected shooter lived in a house in northeast Dallas with his parents, and the Dallas Morning News observed he was staying at a Budget Suites hotel at 8150 N. Stemmons Freeway during the time leading up to the attack.

Fox News observed that when the FBI descended on the home the suspect shared with his parents, the parents “requested a translator.”

The suspect, Mauricio Garcia, was armed with a handgun and a rifle at the time of the attack. He was 33 years old, but Watts is criticizing the Texas legislature for not raising the minimum AR-15 purchase age to 21.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly  at awrhawkins@breitbart.com