A.G. Gancarski
The Senate resisted last year’s attempt to expand gun sales to where they were before 2018’s Parkland massacre, but new legislation is on tap for the 2025 Session.
Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican from Brevard County, is sponsoring legislation (SB 94) that would repeal the current prohibition on people above the age of 18 but below the age of 21 from buying firearms.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act blocked gun sales to those under the age of 21, after a 19-year-old former student at the South Florida school shot and killed 17 people with a AR-15 semiautomatic weapon.
The heinous act that shocked the state and led to bipartisan consensus to impose gun restrictions despite strenuous objections from the powerful National Rifle Association.
Florida’s 2018 law does not prohibit people under 18 from owning guns, noted then-Gov. Rick Scott in comments on the bill in 2022. But it does block the purchase of firearms for everyone under 21 but members of law enforcement. Violations of the law are third-degree felonies.
“When you turn 18, you are eligible to enlist in our nation’s finest fighting forces and are entrusted with a rifle to defend our country. I believe that if you can use a rifle in war to protect our nation, you should also be able to purchase one at the age of 18,” Fine told Florida Politics.
He noted that even when the current law was passed, he saw a flaw in the language.
“When the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Act passed in 2018, I committed to addressing the inconsistency that allows an 18-year-old to be given a firearm by a parent or purchase one in a private transaction but not from a licensed firearms dealer. Before I leave the Senate for Congress, I want to get that done,” Fine added.
Previous attempts to change the law proved more successful in the House, where Fine served four terms ending last Session, than the Senate.
2023’s HB 1211, sponsored by former Rep. Bobby Payne of Palatka, passed 76-35, largely along party lines in the supermajority lower chamber.
10 comments
Ron Greiner HSA King at Save101.com
December 10, 2024 at 3:03 pm
Florida spends more on health insurance for employees than on wages! Pennelas County hires clerks for $32K and pays $42K for health insurance! The City of Orlando spends $40K on United Healthcare family POS. Randy Fine won’t say healthcare, so he supports Blue Cross of Florida charging poor Pasco teachers $2,563 monthly to insure a spouse and child, the highest in America for schools.
Miami Dade County pays clerks $32K in wages and $59K on Amved PPO insurance. No reporters will ever ask ONE question.
MH/Duuuval
December 10, 2024 at 5:40 pm
But, Fine won’t allow 18 and up to ingest pot — as if pot were more dangerous than firearms.
KathrynA
December 10, 2024 at 9:06 pm
Not enough shooting deaths in Florida? Do we really need to add more and make it easier for the less mature to have guns legally?
Rich7553
December 10, 2024 at 10:06 pm
Why are the “less mature” allowed to vote, marry, or sign legally binding contracts?
MH/Duuuval
December 11, 2024 at 8:45 am
None of these contractural rights leads to potential violence from the barrel of a gun.
(Until the present law was adopted in 2018, girls as young as 13 were getting married in Florida.)
It's Complicated
December 11, 2024 at 11:42 am
Current Florida Statute does not prohibit 18-20 year olds from OWNING a rifle or handgun – the prohibition relates to PURCHASING these firearms from a dealer. Federal law prohibits an 18-20 year old from purchasing a handgun from a Federal Firearms Licensee (“dealer” = “FFL”). State law extends the prohibition to 18-20 year olds from purchasing a shotgun or rifle from a FFL (with caveats). Firearms may be gifted to 18-20 year olds, or they can be private party purchased.
https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FPP/FAQs2.aspx
MH/Duuuval
December 12, 2024 at 8:44 pm
So many loopholes, so many more firearms.
But, hey, seeing guys on the beach with their biggest bulge being a firearm should bring the state a whole new tourist demographic.
KathrynA
December 11, 2024 at 12:38 pm
Rich, those activities usually don’t kill people. You want students, aged 18 and still in schools, to have easier access to guns.
Josh Green
December 11, 2024 at 2:19 pm
As long as we hand them a list of health insurance company CEOs when they buy a gun, i’m all for it.
MH/Duuuval
December 11, 2024 at 7:56 pm
The allege murderer decided against deploying a bomb and instead used a handgun to avoid collateral damage.
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