TALLAHASSEE – A House Republican on Thursday renewed an try to reduce the minimum amount age from 21 to 18 for folks to invest in rifles and other extensive guns in Florida, probably reversing aspect of a legislation that passed in the aftermath of the 2018 mass taking pictures at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High University.
Rep. Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, filed the proposal (HB 1223) for thought during the 2024 legislative session, which will begin Tuesday. The Residence passed a practically identical bill during the 2023 session, but the Senate did not acquire up the problem.
The Legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2018 permitted a law that involved raising the minimum amount age to 21 soon after Nikolas Cruz, then 19, killed 17 learners and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Cruz, who has been sentenced to existence in jail for the murders, utilised a semi-automatic rifle to have out the attack.
Federal regulation by now prevented persons beneath 21 from buying handguns.
The point out legislation drew a lawful obstacle from the National Rifle Association, which contends that it violates Next Amendment legal rights. A federal district decide upheld the age restriction, but the circumstance remains pending at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The attempt throughout the 2023 session to reverse the legislation was backed by House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast. In a March statement, Renner described the proposal as the Household “restoring the skill of youthful older people to work out their Next Amendment rights.”
Before the Household voted 69-36 to go the bill in April, Payne mentioned it “corrects the wrong we did in 2018.” He argued that the evaluate would leave intact other elements of the 2018 legislation that resolved psychological health and fitness and school security.
“You see the gun as the problem,” Payne mentioned in the course of a debate. “I see the interventions and the policies as the answer.”
But Democrats, these types of as Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, who was Parkland mayor at the time of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas taking pictures, opposed lowering the bare minimum wage. During a discussion, Hunschofsky named the 2018 legislation a countrywide “gold regular” for college basic safety.
“This law has stood the test of time because we have not experienced one more college shooting in the point out of Florida, and I hope to God we by no means do so that children will no more time cover, hit the ground, when a balloon pops. … We are likely down the mistaken route here,” she stated.
The Senate did not choose up the invoice just after President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, stated she did not help it. A Senate model of Payne’s 2024 bill had not been filed as of early Thursday afternoon.
