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To the Editor:

Consider these facts:

• Legal age to purchase tobacco products in Virginia: 21

• Legal age to purchase alcohol in Virginia: 21

• Legal age to purchase rifles in Virginia and most other states (including AK-15s and AK-47s):

18

• Age of the shooter who legally bought his own murder weapon and murdered 19 children and two teachers in their school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24: 18

• Age of the shooter who legally bought his own murder weapon and murdered 10 shoppers in a Buffalo, New York, grocery store on May 14: 18

• Age of the shooter who murdered 26 kindergarten, first and second grade students at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012: 20

• Age of the shooter who killed 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018: 19

• Ages of the two shooters who murdered 13 students at Columbine High School in 1999: 17 and 18

To help avoid more senseless killings of our children, please urge our elected officials to raise the age for purchase of guns to 21 in all states, to institute universal background checks for the purchase of all guns, hold parents responsible for their guns and pass red-flag laws to help identify possible problems before they happen.

Myra Wilcox

Dillwyn