In an issue rooted in the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Florida House on Wednesday approved repealing a law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns.
The Republican-controlled House voted 78-34 to pass the bill (HB 759), though it remains unclear whether the Senate will take up the issue. The House passed repeal bills in 2023 and 2024, but they did not get through the Senate.
As in past years, this year’s bill drew heavy — and, at times, emotional — debate.
Then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature in 2018 approved the law to increase the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21 after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 17 students and faculty members at the Parkland school.
Opponents of the bill Wednesday said family members of Parkland victims urged lawmakers to pass the higher minimum age. Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Weston Democrat who was a Broward County School Board member at the time of the mass shooting, urged House members to “continue to honor the promise to those families.”
“Every single time we do this, members, it reopens wounds you can’t even imagine,” said Rep. Dan Daley, a Coral Springs Democrat who graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
But supporters of the bill said 18-year-olds can do such things as vote, join the military and serve on juries. They said 18-year-olds also should be able to buy guns.
“To me, this is simply a matter of consistency,” Rep. Judson Sapp, R-Green Cove Springs, said.
Federal law has long prevented people under 21 from buying handguns. While the Florida law bars purchases of rifles and other long guns, it allows people under 21 to receive guns, for example, as gifts from family members.
Shortly after the Florida law passed in 2018, the National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month, in an 8-4 ruling, upheld the law.
Opponents of the repeal bill Wednesday cited that ruling as they tried to counter arguments that the law violates the Second Amendment. Also, opponents cited research about brain development of young adults and their heightened involvement in shootings.
“The science and the facts don’t lie on this issue,” Daley said.
But supporters of the bill raised scenarios such as the law preventing young single mothers from buying guns to protect themselves.
“To me, this bill is about the right to defend yourself, the right to keep and bear arms,” bill sponsor Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, said.
Wednesday’s vote was largely along party lines, with one Democrat, Jose Alvarez of Kissimmee, supporting the bill. Six Republicans voted against it. They were Rep. Hillary Cassel, R-Dania Beach; Rep. Anne Gerwig, R-Wellington; Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach; Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point; Rep. Vicki Lopez, R-Miami; and Rep. Susan Valdes, R-Tampa.
