The Florida House has again passed legislation () dropping the minimum age to purchase rifles and other long guns from 21 to 18. The vote was 74-37, with five Republicans joining the majority of Democrats in opposing it and one Democrat (Jose Alvarez from Osceola County) supporting the measure.
But for the fourth year in a row, the likelihood of the state repealing the law is doubtful, as a companion bill in the Senate has yet to be filed. A similar situation has played out
Florida lawmakers raised the age to purchase a long gun from 18 to 21 as part of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, in the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting in Parkland that resulted in the deaths of 17 people.
The measure under debate also would allow a person 18 or older to purchase a handgun from a private seller, although a federal ban prohibits anyone under 21 from purchasing a handgun from a federal firearms licensee.
Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, said lowering the legal age would contribute further to what she said is an erosion of gun safety in Florida.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 require permits,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 require training to own a gun. We don鈥檛 require safe gun storage, and now we allow everyone to open carry, so literally these 18 to 21 year olds who are not fully developed, who are not thinking rationally, who cannot think of consequences of the actions, actually can lawfully carry their AR-15 on their back and walk around. That鈥檚 a dangerous situation.鈥�
Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville, went on an extended discussion about how the debate about gun violence wasn鈥檛 about guns at all. The crisis is 鈥渨ith us,鈥� he argued, adding that mass shootings became a phenomenon only over the past three decades. Instead, he said, the House could be talking about the breakdown of the two-parent family and the loss of faith.
鈥淲e could talk about things that really might get us somewhere, but we have this distraction, and history over centuries teaches us that that鈥檚 not the answer, because it didn鈥檛 happen back then, yet it happens today,鈥� Black said.
Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland, was mayor of that city when the shooting happened in 2018. She said the bipartisan vote in the Legislature to raise the age was 鈥渂ecause people decided then that the cost of doing nothing was too high and was something that they wouldn鈥檛 be able to live with.
鈥淚 feel that going back on what was done then, the political courage that was done then, would be devastating and heartbreaking, because it鈥檚 so hard to find that kind of bipartisan political courage these days,鈥� she said.
The effort to raise the legal age has been supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis and gained momentum this spring when Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced he would not defend the law after a federal appeals court again its constitutionality after it was challenged in federal court by the NRA.
鈥淚f the NRA decides to seek further review at SCOTUS, I am directing my office not to defend this law,鈥� Uthmeier in March, not long after DeSantis appointed him to his office. 鈥淢en and women old enough to fight and die for our country should be able to purchase firearms to defend themselves and their families.鈥�
Twenty-one states have raised the age to purchase a long gun to 21 in America, according to
The bill sponsor, Rep. Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, said he was attempting to correct an inequity in Florida law.
鈥淭his country has a problem with school shootings, but the answer to that is not to infringe upon the constitutional rights of law-abiding people,鈥� he said.
Among those watching the debate from the gallery was De鈥檍a Charles, 20, a student at Florida A&M University and a member of Students Demand Action, a gun safety group.
鈥淲e know that 18 to 20 year-olds are three times more likely to commit gun homicides, as opposed to those over 21,鈥� she said, citing statistics compiled by
鈥淲e should be trying to make it safer in Florida for us to live our lives. There should be Parkland victims here today and it鈥檚 difficult to have the courage to express your views when you have representatives that are blatantly just going against it.鈥�
is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
