I'm in no position to comment on your adolescence @roamer_1 .... but if this question is raised from the well of the Senate: If a teenager cannot buy alcohol or a handgun ... why is he or she legally able to buy a rifle? --- a better answer than the one you posted above will be needed.
Just sayin'
@Right_in_Virginia I see that quite the other way around. - So is it your contention that a teenager cannot hunt either? Pretty much everyone I know was blooded long before 18, most in white tail, muley, and elk, at the least. How does that happen without a rifle?
As to the pistol, if a kid can trap, he needs a pistol to dispatch any animal that is live caught... Is it your intention that no one under 18 can trap?
Most everyone I know got their first rifle at between 8 and 12 years old (to include my sons). Is that so very against your sensibilities?
Not that it would matter if it is. Your laws will stop none of it.