The Florida House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that would lower the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 21 to 18.
The bill, which was introduced by Republican state Reps. Bobby Payne and Tyler Sirois, passed by a 76-35 margin and will move to the Florida Senate, in which the GOP occupies 28 of the 40 seats.
In addition to lowering the minimum age to buy firearms, the bill would overturn part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which was passed in the wake of the 2018 shooting that left 17 people dead and 17 more injured.
“The prohibitions of this subsection,” being the sale or transfer of firearms to minors, “do not apply to the purchase of a rifle or shotgun by a law enforcement officer or correctional officer … or servicemember,” was stricken from the 2018 legislation in the bill the House passed Friday.
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If the Senate follows suit and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signs the legislation into law, it would take effect July 1.
The bill’s passage comes a little over a week after the Florida House passed another that would revise penalties for minors committing firearms violations. If that bill, which is also in the state Senate, were to become law, those under 18 found in possession of a firearm would be charged with a third-degree felony rather than a first-degree misdemeanor and sentenced to five days in a “secure detention facility.”
