Florida House panel revives push to lower gun-buying age from 21 to 18

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida House Republicans are once again advancing a plan to roll back one of the state’s signature post-Parkland gun reforms, setting up a familiar clash over whether 18- to 20-year-olds should be allowed to buy rifles and other long guns.

On Tuesday, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee approved HB 133 on an 11–5 party-line vote, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The bill would lower the minimum age to purchase a long gun from 21 to 18, undoing a key piece of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act, passed after the Parkland school massacre.

Sponsor: “Allow 18-year-olds to exercise their right”

Bill sponsor Rep. Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, gave a brief explanation.

“Out of respect for the speakers today, I'll simply say that House Bill 133 lowers the legal age to purchase a long gun from 21 to 18,” Sirois told colleagues. “That's the bill.”

Pressed by Democrats, Sirois framed the proposal as a matter of constitutional rights and consistency with other adult responsibilities.

“This is a policy decision that we have before us,” he said. “I happen to believe that the correct public policy is to allow 18 individuals over the age of 18 to exercise their right to keep and bear arms to protect themselves and their families.”

Asked by Ranking Member Rep. Johanna López, D-Orlando, why firearms should be treated differently than alcohol and tobacco, which are restricted until 21, Sirois argued the comparison was off.

“In some respects, I think that that's almost comparing apples and oranges,” he said. “What we have laid out in law and custom is that we expect or permit our 18-year-olds to vote. We permit them to serve on a jury. In many instances, we allow them to seek elected office at 18… Eighteen to 25-year-olds are required to register for the draft. You can go out and rent an apartment or take out a loan and buy a house. All of these things are constitutional rights, and I believe keeping consistent with that list, allowing an 18-year-old the right to go out and purchase a long gun to defend themselves and their family and their property is is wholly in keeping with those rights and privileges that I outline.”

Sirois later added, “Freedom and security always have friction between the two. I happen to believe in terms of a policy question, I want to err on the side of individual freedom and allow our 18-year-olds and those over the age of 18 to exercise this right.”

Democrats cite Parkland, FSU shooting and brain science

Democrats on the panel pointed repeatedly to the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and this year’s deadly shooting at Florida State University, allegedly carried out by a 20-year-old, as reasons to keep the higher age in place.

López asked Sirois, “What problem is this bill solving?” and later warned in debate, “Lowering the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 21 to 18 is dangerous. We do not have to imagine the consequences. Florida has already lived them… Remember Parkland in 2018 a 19-year-old armed with a legally purchased weapon took 17 innocent lives, 17 families shattered. That tragedy is exactly why Florida raised the age to 21 in a bipartisan effort… second look at the FSU shooting in Tallahassee just this year. The shooter was 20 years old, once again, demonstrating that individuals under 21 can and do pose lethal risk when firearms are too easily accessible.”

Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Coral Springs, who served as Parkland’s mayor during the 2018 shooting, called the debate “deeply personal.”

She reminded colleagues that the current law was crafted with that case specifically in mind.

“The reason this is in there, the way it is, is because the killer in Marjory Stoneman Douglas mother actually called the store and said, ‘Please don't sell him a gun.’ And there was nothing that mother could do, because it was a law that he could purchase that gun,” Hunschofsky said.

She argued the age limit has already been upheld in court and fits within the Second Amendment framework articulated by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

“When we talk about constitutionality, the law as it stands, has been deemed constitutional,” she said, later quoting Scalia that “like most rights, the rights secured by the Second Amendment is not the right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever, in any manner whatsoever.”

Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Broward, raised concerns about adolescent brain development and cited Supreme Court precedents on juvenile punishment.

“We know that frontal lobes, especially in males, aren't developed at 25,” she said earlier in the hearing. In debate, she added, “Teens struggle with impulse control. They struggle with decision-making, emotional regulation, and we're going to give them a gun now. Give them the ability to buy a gun.”

Bartleman accused House leaders of reopening painful wounds for Parkland families.

“For four years, this legislature continues to open the wound of the family members of the Parkland victims and those students,” she said. “Every year you just that wound is healing, and you rip it off. And I don't really understand why, when you know there's not a Senate companion.”

Supporters: Equal treatment and parental responsibility

Republicans countered that the current system is unfair and inconsistent, noting that 18- to 20-year-olds can already legally possess a long gun if it’s gifted to them.

“Right now, in Florida, a 19-year-old can legally own a long gun if someone gives it to them, but they can't buy one themselves, and this just doesn't make any sense,” said Rep. Jessica Baker, R-Jacksonville. “If we believe in equality, how is it fair that a young adult from a well off family can get a long gun as a gift and protect their home and their families, but a young adult with no family support cannot, so we're basically saying you can defend yourself, but only if you have parents who can afford to give you a long gun.”

Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Pasco, framed the issue as one of parenting rather than policy.

“I'm the father of four daughters, and every one of my kids have their own long rifle,” Steele said. “Responsibility is a parent's job to teach the children, and I think we're talking about a parental issue, not necessarily a purchase issue. I don't agree with the fact that we ban purchasing for everybody else because we have bad parents that don't teach their kids right from wrong. It's like banning cars. Cars kill more people every year than firearms, so therefore we should just ban cars, which makes no sense.”

Long odds in the Senate — but new political muscle

Tuesday’s vote is the latest step in a multi-year push by Republicans to roll back the Parkland-era age limit. Similar proposals have passed the House in previous years but repeatedly stalled in the more moderate Senate.

The state’s law currently requires buyers to be 21 for the purchase of long guns, while federal law already sets 21 as the minimum age for handgun purchases.

Florida GOP Chair Evan Power has argued the rollback is a matter of fairness and constitutional rights.

“Look, if you can sign on the dotted line and be forced on a draft to go serve your country and fire guns, why are we not letting those people have those rights in our state?” Power said earlier this year. “And I think constitutional rights are constitutional rights. They start at 18. If you want to have a conversation about moving the age, it should be about moving all of those rights.”

Backing him is Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, a strong supporter of Second Amendment protections.

“Well, I'll tell you, you can't go wrong with 2A rights,” Collins said in an interview earlier this year. “You know, I am an unequivocal supporter of that.”

Online, Collins added, “Without equivocation. This needs to be fixed. Restricting law-abiding citizens of their right to bear arms is unconstitutional.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis has also supported lowering the age in the past, as part of a broader wish list that has included eliminating red flag laws and allowing full open carry.

But Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Bartow, has so far shown no appetite for changing the law, saying during session this year that “Twenty-one to 18? It’s dead.” The measure never received a hearing in the upper chamber.

Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, have argued Republicans should focus on Florida’s affordability problems instead of what she has called “extremist legislation.”

“We're facing a crisis of affordability. Nearly 40% of our children are on Medicaid,” Driskell said. “We have some real issues that we must get down, get down to business, and address those, and I hope that that can become the focus of our legislative session going forward.”

For now, HB 133 moves on to its next House stop — but whether this latest bid to let 18-year-olds buy rifles ever reaches the governor’s desk will once again depend on whether the Senate decides to join the fight or shut it down.

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