Right now, there’s a lot of talk about raising the age for buying certain firearms from 18 to 21. According to proponents, this will keep dangerous young people from getting firearms. We’re assured that such a measure would have undoubtedly prevented a number of high-profile incidents.

If they were right, it might be something to at least consider.

However, if laws keep guns out of the hands of people between the ages of 18 and 21, then how do you explain their inability to keep a gun out of the hands of a 15-year-old in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh police arrested a 15-year-old boy and recovered the gun he allegedly carried after they were alerted by residents in Ormsby Park, just outside the swimming pool.

Claire Pro was among the residents who saw two groups of teens get involved in a verbal altercation when one was spotted with a gun Tuesday. Pro says she confronted the teen.

“I said, ‘This is a kid’s playground, you got to move on,’ pretty loud. It perked them up. I think it got them back down to reality to look around. There were still children on the playground at the time,” Pro said.

Now, understand that a 15-year-old can’t lawfully buy any firearm.  Neither can others his age.

So, if the laws against a 15-year-old obtaining a firearm aren’t doing any good–and we’ve seen a lot of people this age with guns over the years–then how is a law banning those under 21 from buying certain firearms going to keep potential mass shooters from getting them?

I mean, if someone wants to shoot a pile of people, do you really think a law keeping them from buying a gun legally will stop them? We can’t keep them from buying beer, but we can stop them from buying guns?

Obviously, that won’t happen.

Instead, at most, what we’ll see is that those under 21 will probably steal a gun from a family member, much as how mass shooters under 18 do. It won’t stop the shootings. It probably won’t even slow them down.

But what else we’ll see is more law-abiding citizens under the age of 21 be less able to protect themselves. They’re at an age when they can sign contracts, enlist in the military, live on their own, and have families themselves. They should also be able to access the best means possible to defend those families and homes.

As it is, they’re limited in their options because of federal law.

Yet a 15-year-old kid allegedly got a handgun and was able to pull it in public when an 18-year-old Marine can’t buy one himself.

Yeah, those gun laws are just working out freaking great, aren’t they?

The truth is, gun control doesn’t control the bad guys. It never has.

But it can stop law-abiding adults from being able to defend their families and their homes because lawmakers fail to recognize the harsh reality that the gun control laws do keep law-abiding citizens from accessing the means to protect themselves from harm.