Florida’s House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to pass for a full floor vote a bill that would lower the age to 18 to purchase firearms, including assault-style rifles. The move would reverse a state law changed after an infamous high school mass shooting in South Florida.
The committee – the final stop before a vote by the full House – voted 13-7 largely along party lines to lower the age for gun buyers. Rep. Hillary Cassel of Hollywood, whose legislative district is only a few miles from the 2018 school shooting in Broward County and who recently changed her party registration from Democrat to Republican, voted with Democrats against the bill.
The effort’s final prospects are unclear. Even if it were to pass in the House, there is no Senate version that has been introduced yet – even though there is still time for one to be filed before lawmakers formally convene in January. The effort to change the law has failed three other times in the Capitol.
The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Mike Gottlieb, D-Davie, said in an interview after the vote that he doesn’t believe the GOP effort will succeed, even if a version were introduced in the Senate.
“ I don't know why this bill is a priority every year,” Gottlieb said. “We know we're going to see this on the House floor. We know we're going to debate it again. We know that it's not very likely to pass at all in the Senate.”
The bill wouldn’t affect federal laws that prohibit anyone under 21 from buying a pistol from a licensed gun dealer, but it would allow someone under 21 to buy a pistol from a private seller.
The House bill has been one of the only gun-related bills to move through the Republican-led Legislature so far, despite efforts by Democrats pushing bills to tighten limits on guns or ammunition. Tuesday’s hearing came amid court decisions in Florida and efforts by the DeSantis administration to strengthen gun rights. A federal appeals court earlier this year ruled that Florida’s limit on the age of rifle buyers was legal.
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“There is no excuse for what was done in 2018 and it is time that it is corrected and brought back to restore the rights of law-abiding Floridians, adults, no matter their age,” Eric Friday of Florida Carry Inc., a gun rights group, told lawmakers at the hearing.
On the other side of the debate, public school students and parents urged lawmakers to vote against the measure. They cited figures about gun violence among teens and polls showing public support to leave the age restrictions alone.
A Navy veteran, Marialana Kinter of Orlando, disputed the argument that 18 year olds should be allowed to purchase firearms since they can also serve in the military.
“Eighteen-year-olds in the military are not just handed a weapon and released into the public,” she said. “In the military, nobody touches a weapon without extensive training.”
Florida raised the age to 21 after a 19-year-old gunman legally purchased an AR-15 rifle he used to kill 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida.
Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Hudson, said parents of teens should do a better job raising their kids to reduce violence.
“At the end of the day, you can’t take away somebody’s rights because of somebody else’s misunderstanding or misteachings,” he said. “I think this goes back to parental education: the parents have to do their job in raising the kids to understand right and wrong.”
Cassel, the only Republican to vote against the measure, did not speak during the hearing. But after a shooting at Florida State University earlier this year, she released a statement saying, “Today, we grieve. Tomorrow, we continue the fight for a safer Florida.”
Democrats sought to portray the bill as driven by commercial gun interests. The Legislature said the bill “may have a positive economic impact on businesses engaged in the sale of firearms and firearm-related products.”
“The only voices in support were corporate interests; those who profit, not those who pay the price,” said Rep. Johanna López, D-Orlando “When only corporations advocate for lowering age protections we all should ask who is this bill really for?”
Rep. Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs, was a graduate of Majority Stoneman Douglas High before the 2018 shooting. He said no young, would-be gun buyers testified Tuesday that they wanted to be allowed to purchase firearms.
“An interest group that I would argue is funded by the gun industry themselves got up here and asked for it on their behalf,” Daley said.
This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at kmccormack@freshtakeflorida.com.
