Florida bill would repeal gun law that raised purchasing age to 21

Published  December 10, 2024 10:14pm EST
News Service of Florida
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Amid a long-running legal battle about the issue, a Republican state senator Tuesday proposed repealing a law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns. 

Sen. Randy Fine, a Brevard County Republican who is running in a special election for a congressional seat, filed the proposal (SB 94) for consideration during the 2025 legislative session, which will start March 4. 

The bill is similar to a measure that passed the House during the 2024 session but failed in the Senate. In 2018, lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Scott approved raising the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21 after a mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people. 

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Federal law bars people under 21 from buying handguns. The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit contending that the 2018 law violates Second Amendment rights. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker upheld the age restriction. 

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld the law, but the NRA asked the full appeals court to consider the case. The issue remains pending at the Atlanta-based appeals court. 

Fine, who was elected to the Senate last month after eight years in the House, qualified last week to run in a special election to replace U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., in Congressional District 6. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Waltz to become national security adviser.

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