The San Francisco Chronicle: California hasn’t raised age limit for buying rifles. That may change

Even though California has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, an 18-year-old can still buy an AR-15 rifle as long as it lacks a detachable magazine and other features that define it under state law as an assault weapon.

But after a 19-year-old man allegedly used a legally purchased AR-15 to kill 17 students and staffers last month at a high school in Parkland, Fla., California legislators began turning their attention to the age issue.

On Wednesday, state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), added language to an existing gun control measure that would raise the legal age to buy a long gun — a rifle or shotgun — from 18 to 21.

“As a father of a high school sophomore I can’t stop thinking about the unnecessary nightmare that this tragedy caused for the affected families,” he said in a statement. “I feel it is imperative that California leads when Washington refuses to act.”

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