Photo: fstop123 / iStock / Getty Images
FLORIDA - Following a deadly shooting at Florida State University, a controversial bill aiming to lower the legal age to buy rifles in Florida is unlikely to advance in the Senate.
The proposal, House Bill 759, seeks to reduce the minimum age for purchasing rifles and long guns from 21 to 18.
Though the House approved the bill in late March, Senate Rules Chair Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, confirmed Monday her committee won’t hear it.
She stated the decision was made prior to the April 18 FSU shooting that left two dead and six injured.
The suspected gunman, reportedly the 21-year-old stepson of a local sheriff’s deputy, was shot by police and remains hospitalized.
Florida raised the legal age to purchase long guns after the 2018 Parkland school shooting, which killed 17 people.
That law, signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, was one of several post-Parkland reforms.
Federal law already restricts handgun purchases to individuals 21 and older.
This marks the third consecutive year the House passed a similar measure without Senate support.
Passidomo, Senate president during the 2023 and 2024 sessions, reiterated her stance, referencing her presence at the Parkland scene.
Democratic Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, former Parkland mayor, said she’s hopeful the bill won’t resurface before the session ends May 2.
Meanwhile, companion Senate bills haven’t advanced, and Senate President Ben Albritton has not publicly stated a position.
Although the NRA has challenged the 2018 law, a federal appeals court upheld it.
Florida’s attorney general has indicated he won’t defend the law if it reaches the Supreme Court.