Louisiana senators reject raising age to buy assault weapons

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – The Louisiana Senate has refused to ban the sale of assault rifles to people under the age of 21.
  
Lawmakers voted down the measure 26-9 Tuesday.
  
Democratic Sen. Troy Carter framed his bill as a common-sense gun restriction needed in the wake of mass shootings such as the February massacre at a Florida high school were 17 people were killed.
  
Opponents said stopping the sale of some assault weapons wouldn’t stop people from killing each other.
  
State law currently allows assault rifles to be sold to anyone 18 or older.
  
Separately, a Senate committee Tuesday narrowly advanced Carter’s measure to prohibit anyone in Louisiana from buying or selling rapid-fire devices known as bump stocks. But that, too, seemed likely to have trouble in the Senate.