I think the left is so scared of firearms that they turn their heads away from anything to do with them. Instead of burying their heads in the sand, they should be teaching gun safety at an early age to every kid, male or female and it wouldn't be a bad idea to include the parents as well, even if the age to purchase is changed to 21. As part of the training, take them to see the affects of what a firearm can do to someone.
In Ct we had death by the electric chair and one day, my dad took me to a display at a shopping plaza and I'll tell you, that chair was something I would never want to see in action. Seeing someones face blown away or other damage will reinforce the training. Obviously, that part has to be done with a certain age group but adding in a short gun safety lesson every year in school would keep it fresh. Schools had rifle teams years ago so the students had the opportunity to use the guns as well, taking away that "curiosity factor" that always seems to lead to problems when not supervised. In scouts I always had the opportunity to shoot during summer camps and my dad hunted so I had that opportunity to be around guns at an early age.
In Ct it was always 18 for long rifles but with handguns you had to be 21, even for ammo. I had an antique rifle that belonged to my great grandfather and because the ammo was also used in a hand gun, my mother had to sign for it before I turned 21.