DENVER (KDVR) — Studies suggest Colorado’s recent minimum age requirement may not have a big impact on homicides.

Colorado’s new minimum age requirement to purchase any gun will begin on Aug. 7. The new law raises the legal age to purchase any gun to 21. Signed by Gov. Jared Polis in April, the law brings Colorado in line with 21 other states. Existing federal law required the same minimum age for handgun purchases, but a federal judge in Virginia ruled the law unconstitutional in May. The Rocky Mountain Gun Owners have challenged the Colorado law.

Lawmakers aim to stop gun violence in the 18 to 20-year-old age group with the new law. The hope is fewer 18 to 20-year-olds will commit violent gun crimes if they are barred from legal purchases. Studies from the University of Washington and RAND Corporation, though, say states with minimum age handgun possession laws don’t see a significant drop in gun violence among this age group.

The first study says the laws did not seem to make a difference at all.

“The five states were Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Wyoming. With the exception of Wyoming, these states also increased the minimum age for possession of a handgun,” read the report. “UW researchers found that rates of firearm homicides perpetrated by young adults aged 18 to 20 years old were not significantly different in the two groups of states.”

The second report analyzed five scholarly studies on minimum age laws and their impact on gun violence. Four of the studies said the connection between minimum age laws and violence was uncertain. One study found there was a strong connection between a reduction in violence and minimum age laws, but that it cannot solely be attributed to the laws alone since there were other gun-related laws passed at the same time.

“Therefore, we find inconclusive evidence for how minimum age requirements for possessing a firearm affect total homicides, firearm homicides, and other violent crime,” the report reads.