The Florida House of Representatives voted to repeal a 2018 law that prevents individuals under the age of 21 from purchasing rifles and other long guns.

The measure passed the GOP-led House in a 78-34 vote.

However, it remains questionable if the bill will clear the state Senate.

“The House passed repeal bills in 2023 and 2024, but they did not get through the Senate,” CBS News stated.

Per CBS News:

Then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature in 2018 approved the law to increase the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21 after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 17 students and faculty members at the Parkland school.

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Opponents of the bill Wednesday said family members of Parkland victims urged lawmakers to pass the higher minimum age. Democratic Rep. Robin Bartleman, of Weston, who was a Broward County School Board member at the time of the mass shooting, urged House members to “continue to honor the promise to those families.”

“Every single time we do this, members, it reopens wounds you can’t even imagine,” Rep. Dan Daley, a Coral Springs Democrat who graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, said.

But supporters of the bill said 18-year-olds can do such things as vote, join the military and serve on juries. They said 18-year-olds also should be able to buy guns.

“To me, this is simply a matter of consistency,” Republican Rep. Judson Sapp said.

“To me, this bill is about the right to defend yourself, the right to keep and bear arms, the right to a well-armed militia. It’s not about the tragedy,” said state Rep. Michelle Salzman, the bill’s sponsor, according to Tallahassee Democrat.

From the Tallahassee Democrat:

But while the bill passed the House, a similar bill in the Senate, “Firearm Purchase or Transfer” (SB 920), has not yet been heard in committee. When asked if the House bill was dead in the Senate, House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said there’s still time.

“I think that’s premature,” Perez said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been candid about supporting the repeal of age requirements, red-flag laws and for allowing open carry: “Those are things that a lot of us have been talking about for a long time,” DeSantis said on the opening day of the 2025 legislative session.

In early March, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 21-year-old age limit in response to a lawsuit challenging the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, saying it “does not violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments because it is consistent with our historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

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