Florida House votes to repeal gun control measure enacted after Parkland shooting
The Florida House of Representatives voted to repeal a gun control measure passed after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
"Minimum Age for Firearm Purchase or Transfer" (HB 759) would lower the minimum age from 21 to 18 for buying a firearm, specifically "a long gun, such as a shotgun or rifle."
"To me, this bill is about the right to defend yourself, the right to keep and bear arms, the right to a well-armed militia. It's not about the tragedy," said Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, the bill's sponsor.
But while the bill passed the House, a similar bill in the Senate, "Firearm Purchase or Transfer" (SB 920), has not yet been heard in committee. When asked if the House bill was dead in the Senate, House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said there's still time.
"I think that's premature," Perez said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been candid about supporting the repeal of age requirements, red-flag laws and for allowing open carry: 'Those are things that a lot of us have been talking about for a long time,' DeSantis said on the opening day of the 2025 legislative session.
In early March, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 21-year-old age limit in response to a lawsuit challenging the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, saying it "does not violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments because it is consistent with our historical tradition of firearm regulation."
"From the Founding to the late-nineteenth century, our law limited the purchase of firearms by minors in different ways. The Florida law also limits the purchase of firearms by minors. And it does so for the same reason: to stop immature and impulsive individuals, like (the Parkland shooter), from harming themselves and others with deadly weapons. Those similarities are sufficient to confirm the constitutionality of the Florida law," the opinion says.
During debate, Democrats urged House members to consider the court's opinion and to remember the families affected by the Parking shooting.
"This law was signed in the blood of the victim's families," said Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, a Broward County School Board member at the time of the Parkland shooting. "Please do not undo the good we have done, and do not slap those families and the community in the face by repealing this law."
But Florida's new Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a social media post that he would not defend the law if the NRA, one of the plaintiffs in the suit that was appealed, decided to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
And House Republicans argued the passage of this bill aligns with other responsibilities given to teens when they turn 18, like voting and joining the military.
They also said the repeal would close a "loophole" that lets someone under 21 have a firearm if their parent buys it for them.
"Some time ago, this body, meaning to do well, took a wrong turn," said Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville, a co-sponsor of the bill.
Seventeen students and staff at Douglas High School were killed by a 19-year-old who legally bought an AR-15-style rifle and gunned down the victims at his former high school on Valentine's Day of 2018.
Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida House rolls back age for buying long guns from 21 to 18
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