A shocking video showing a 13-year-old refused multiple items regulated by age under US law but able to purchase a gun is highlighting the ease with which a minor can legally purchase a weapon in America.
The video, filmed as a social experiment for HBO in 2014, shows 13-year-old Jack trying but failing to purchase various items, such as beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and adult entertainment, before walking into a gun show and purchasing a .22 caliber rifle within seconds.
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“It’s not happening,” a woman tells Jack when he attempts to purchase beer, the woman adding “literally looks like he’s 12.”
In America, the minimum age to purchase alcohol is 21.
“I am so sorry, I can’t sell you the cigarettes,” a woman tells the teen, who would have to be 18 to legally purchase cigarettes.
“You can’t get no scratch off, baby,” an attendant tells Jack when he attempts to buy lottery tickets, which a person has to be 18 to legally purchase in America.
“You have to be 18 or older,” he is told when he enters an adult entertainment store and tries to purchase a racy magazine.
When Jack walks into a gun show, however, an older man selling rifles tells him “It should shoot pretty good for you” as he hands the teen a .22 caliber rifle. Within seconds, Jack is walking out of the gun show with a legally purchased rifle.
Federal law requires that you must be at least 18 to purchase a gun from a licensed dealer, the sale shown in the video was made at a gun show and considered a private sale, which require less documentation.
The video has resurfaced after 18-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire with an AR-15, which he had legally purchased, inside of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day, killing 17 students and adults and injuring more than a dozen.
In the wake of the shooting, the call for gun reform has been placed in the spotlight again, with survivors of the Florida shooting becoming vocal leaders in the fight. Students have planned nationwide organized walkouts and have travelled to Tallahassee to urge lawmakers to take actions to prevent another massacre as students at high schools across the country walkout of their classrooms to show their support.
