Florida House Wants to Lower Gun Age

For the third year in a row, the Florida House has passed a bill to roll back a law that was born out of unimaginable tragedy, the murder of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. That law, signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, raised the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21. It was the least they could do. And now, State Rep. Michelle Salzman and her gun-happy colleagues want to undo even that.

Salzman, R-Pensacola, who sponsored this year’s bill (HB 759), claims “This bill is about the right to defend yourself, the right to keep and bear arms.” No, Rep. Salzman. This bill is about appeasing the NRA and pretending that 18-year-olds should be handed AR-15s like they’re dorm furniture.

And let’s talk about the ‘rights’ argument. Yes, 18-year-olds can vote and serve on a jury. But those rights aren’t specifically designed to kill people. Guns are. This isn’t complicated. Voting doesn’t end lives in a classroom. Juries don’t blow holes through 9-year-olds hiding under desks.

Salzman also invoked the image of single mothers supposedly left defenseless by current law, as if there’s some epidemic of 19-year-old moms being denied rifles when trying to protect their homes. AR-15s are not the go-to tool for self-defense unless you’re in a war zone, or a right-wing politician’s imagination. If the state of Florida actually gave a damn about protecting single mothers, maybe it could offer affordable childcare, housing support, or healthcare, instead of shoveling more firearms into young hands and hoping that solves poverty.

One of the more insulting arguments from bill supporters is about the so-called ‘loophole’ that under-21s can still receive guns as gifts from their parents. So instead of tightening that gap, instead of finally holding irresponsible parents accountable for giving deadly weapons to their kids (you know, like what happened in Oxford, Michigan?), they want to just give up and make it easier across the board. How about we talk about increasing penalties for those who arm unstable teens, instead of pretending they’re all ‘responsible gun owners™‘ in training?

Let’s be clear about who this hurts. Rep. Dan Daley, who graduated from Stoneman Douglas, put it best: “Every single time we do this, it reopens wounds you can’t even imagine.” He’s right. The victims’ families didn’t ask for their kids to become martyrs for basic reform. But they did ask us to keep the law that made it harder for the next 19-year-old to walk into a school with a semiautomatic rifle.

And yet, despite the overwhelming moral case to keep the age limit, the Florida House passed the bill. Same as they did in 2023. Same as 2024. The Senate hasn’t moved on it yet, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has already said he’s on board with this and more, including repealing red-flag laws and pushing for open carry. Because, of course, he is.

Let’s not forget Florida’s new Attorney General James Uthmeier, who said publicly that he won’t defend the age restriction if the NRA takes it to the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s right, kids, Florida’s own top lawyer refuses to defend a law that has already survived a federal court challenge. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that the age limit is perfectly constitutional and consistent with centuries of firearm regulation.

This isn’t about protecting rights. It’s about rewriting tragedy and pretending that the solution to gun violence is more guns in younger hands. It’s cowardice disguised as freedom. As I have said previously, It’s like trying to cure cancer with more cancer.

To the Parkland families, to every community still mourning, and to every student walking into school with crippling anxiety: Florida heard your pain, and decided it was time to move on.

(Sources)