We, high school students, want the Parliament of New Zealand to pass a bill increasing the minimum age to obtain a firearm licence in New Zealand from 16 years old to 25 years old

Due to the recent events, we should consider how the population, especially the youth, is affected by the terrorist attacks and how guns are present in our lives. We believe that there is no need for a 16-year-old get a firearm licence since researches show how the brain is only fully developed around the twenties. The brain's complex thinking, and where high-level cognitive processing happens, only fully developed around 25 years old, so it would be the best age for in our opinion.

As high school students, we worry about our safety not only in schools but outside it, too. We also know how sometimes we, teenagers, can get confused with our own feelings and emotions and, without proper help, we may not know how to convey and act on them. That's why the minimum age to obtain a firearm licence in New Zealand should be 25.

So help us raise the age for guns today!