Rep. Adam Kinzinger says raising minimum age to own a gun is a ‘no-brainer’

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) on Sunday called on fellow Republicans to present “reasonable solutions” to the nation’s gun epidemic, with the Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran saying raising the age limit to purchase a gun is a “no-brainer.”

“As a person that appreciates and believes in the second amendment, we have to be the ones putting forward reasonable solutions to gun violence,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” following two recent mass shootings by teenagers in Texas and New York.

Kinzinger has previously opposed a ban on assault weapons, but on Sunday told CNN’s Dana Bash he’s “open to one now.”

Kinzinger suggested that people could obtain a special license or go through training to own a semi-automatic rifle like the AR-15, which has become the go-to firearm for recent mass shootings.

“I think that raising the age of gun purchase to 21 is a no-brainer,” he told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl. “We just raised without really so much as a blink the age of purchasing cigarettes federally to 21. I think we need to get there eventually.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) last week proposed a similar age restriction for her own state in the wake of the Buffalo shooting. Such a proposal is easier said than done, however, with federal courts in recent years ruling that such age limits are unconstitutional.

Kinzinger also dismissed adding more armed security to schools as a means to keep students safe.

“If we think that just hardening schools or reducing ― basically turning schools into military camps is going to be the answer, even if it does work, which it won’t, but even if it does, that’s not the kind of country I want to live in, right?” he said. “I got a kid that’s 4 months old now, will be going to school someday. I don’t want to have to have a military I.D. to check him into the front gate of his elementary school.”

The suspected gunman in the elementary school shooting earlier this week in Uvalde, Texas, had purchased two AR-15 style rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition just days after turning 18.

He had tried to purchase weapons when he was 17 last year with his sister’s help, but she “flatly refused,” Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said Friday.