Florida Lawmakers Pass Bill Lowering Legal Age to Buy Rifles and Shotguns from 21 to 18

Florida lawmakers are as soon as once more transferring ahead with a proposal to decrease the minimal age to buy rifles and shotguns, advancing a invoice that will roll again gun restrictions put in place after the 2018 mass capturing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty.

The Florida Home Judiciary Committee voted 13-7 on Tuesday to approve House Bill 133, sending the measure to the complete Home when the 2026 legislative session begins in January. The vote largely adopted occasion strains, with Rep. Hillary Cassel, R-Hollywood, becoming a member of Democrats in opposition.

HB 133 would decrease the minimal age to buy lengthy weapons from 21 to 18. Florida raised the age restrict in 2018 after a 19-year-old gunman legally bought an AR-15-style rifle and killed 17 college students and employees members on the Parkland faculty.

The invoice’s sponsor, Rep. Tyler Sirois, R-Brevard County, and supporters argue the regulation unfairly restricts the rights of law-abiding younger adults. Gun rights advocates testified that 18- to 20-year-olds can already possess and carry firearms in Florida however are prohibited from buying them immediately.

“Proper now in Florida, 18- to 20-year-olds can legally carry a firearm, however they can not legally buy one,” mentioned Jed Carroll of Gun Owners of America through the listening to.

Underneath present Florida regulation, a firearm could also be legally owned however can’t be bought till age 21, a distinction on the middle of the legislative debate.

Opponents of the measure, together with college students, dad and mom, and public security advocates, urged lawmakers to maintain the age restriction in place. Many referenced the Parkland capturing and cited considerations about gun violence amongst teenagers.

“Eighteen-year-olds within the navy aren’t simply handed a weapon and launched into the general public,” mentioned Marialana Kinter, a Navy veteran from Orlando. “Within the navy, no one touches a weapon with out in depth coaching.”

Rep. Mike Gottlieb, D-Davie, the highest Democrat on the committee, mentioned he doesn’t anticipate the invoice to outlive the legislative course of, even when it passes the Home.

Rifles line the wall at a gun store in Central Florida, as lawmakers debate decreasing the authorized age to buy lengthy weapons from 21 to 18

Comparable measures have handed the Home in every of the previous three years however failed to realize traction within the Senate. As of this week, no companion invoice has been filed within the Senate, which has confirmed to be a recurring impediment.

Even when permitted, the laws wouldn’t override federal regulation, which nonetheless prohibits people underneath 21 from buying handguns from licensed sellers. Nevertheless, it might permit personal gross sales of pistols to consumers underneath 21.

The invoice now awaits a vote by the complete Home when lawmakers reconvene in January.

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning out of doors journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly out of doors column for the Slidell Unbiased Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Out of doors Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith electronic mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com