Walmart raises gun purchase age to 21 after Florida school shooting

Announcement follows Dick's Sporting Goods' introduction of gun restrictions earlier in the day

An employee arranges shopping carts in front of a Walmart store (REUTERS/Daniel Becerril)

Walmart has joined the list of firearms retailers tightening their rules after a Florida school shooting, saying it would impose a new age restriction on buying guns and ammunition.

“In light of recent events,” the company said, it would require people to be 21 or over to buy guns and ammunition and would pull items “resembling assault-style rifles” from its website, including toy guns.

The line was almost certainly a reference to the bloodshed earlier this month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman shot and killed 17 students and teachers.

While past mass shootings have done little to affect gun policies, the response to the Parkland shooting – publicly dominated by student survivors who have championed more stringent gun laws – has begun to produce concrete results.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, another prominent seller of guns, announced earlier in the day that it would stop selling assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines while imposing a 21-and-over rule for gun purchases.

While Republicans in Washington rejected calls to raise the minimum age for buying guns to 21, Florida’s Republican governor and Republican-controlled legislature have embraced the idea.

Donald Trump has also backed raising the age for certain gun purchases to 21, and in an extraordinary public break with the National Rifle Association – a powerful political ally – he said he supported an array of other gun control measures during a televised meeting.

“You’re afraid of the NRA”, Mr Trump chided legislators gathered at the White House.