How can a disturbed young man buy an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle before he's old enough to buy a beer?

Arsenal: This picture shows the wide variety of weaponry owned by Nikolas Cruz - including an AR-15 - center and what appears to be a handgun on the right of the picture 

Police investigates gun store where Nikolas Cruz purchased AR15

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Weak federal law on long-gun ownership has created an inconsistent system

In some states, like Florida, it is relatively simple to buy an AR-15 assault rifle 

No federal age restriction on buying a long-gun from an unlicensed dealer

Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz, 19, purchased his own AR-15 and killed 17 

After yet another mass shooting carried out using an AR-15, critics of the nation's uneven gun laws have called for change to a system which allows an American to buy an assault rifle before a beer.

Indeed, following the rampage of Nikolas Cruz on Wednesday during which he killed 17 with a legally obtained weapon at a Florida high school, many are asking why a liquor store is stricter than a gun store?

Federal law dictates that you have to be 21 to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer, but 18 to purchase one from an unlicensed dealer who operates online or at a registered gunshow.

However, for long guns such as AR-15s and shotguns, while the federal age is 21, there is essentially no minimum age to legally buy one from an unlicensed dealer.

Some gun-shy states such as California and New York impose their own stricter regulations ontop of the federal law, so even though they will sell hunting rifles to 16-year-olds, assault rifles such as the AR-15 are totally banned. But some states like Kentucky and Kansas do not bolster the bare federal law at all, meaning that legally it would be up to the conscience of the dealer to sell or not to sell to anyone old enough to exchange money and buy an AR-15. Despite the mishmash of gun laws across the nation according to the Giffords Law Center there are 30 states that have 18 as a minimum age to buy an AR-15.

But of course the United States has a drinking age of 21, meaning that a teenager can legally arm himself with enough weaponry to kill 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but to drink one can of beer is breaking the law.

Furthermore, in Florida, a 21-year-old buying a handgun would have had to wait three-days for the weapon but could have picked up an assault rifle that afternoon.

The only thing stopping the sale of the AR-15 to Cruz would have been if the dealer thought he was of 'unsound mind' or a criminal conviction for assault or domestic abuse.

However, despite the FBI receiving two reports that Cruz was threatening a school shooting online, the teen was never placed on a watchlist.

But that still may not have mattered, because in Florida, the stricest definition of the law says that anyone can buy an assault rifle unless 'adjudicated mentally defective or involuntarily committed by a judge'. The family of Cruz knew he kept a small arsenal and according to their attorney Jim Lewis, he was forced by them to keep it under lock and key.

And Peter Forcelli the special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Miami added that all the weapons Cruz purchased were bought legally.

'No laws were violated in the procurement of this weapon', said Forcelli according to the New York Times.