Once again, the House has overwhelmingly passed a controversial bill that would lower the gun-buying age from 21 to 18 years old and roll back a bipartisan law put in place after the Parkland school shootings.
And once again, questions persist on whether the measure will advance in the Senate to become law.
The House passed HB 133 with a vote of 74-37. The process featured an emotional debate from multiple lawmakers who were local officials responding to the mass shooting in 2018.
“Two hundred ninety-six days, less than a year ago, we sat in this same room, on this same floor, this same chamber with the same piece of legislation under a different bill number,” said Rep. Dan Daley, a Coral Springs Democrat who responded to the shooting as a then-Coral Springs City Commissioner. “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
In Thursday’s debate, Democrats slammed HB 133, saying it would put deadly weapons to the hands of 18-year-olds on high school campuses and increase school shootings. They also accused House Republicans of retraumatizing the victims and families of Parkland by their attempts to repeal the law.
“This bill was signed in the blood of the victims of this tragedy, and to undo it is a sin in my book,” said Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Weston Democrat.
But Rep. Tyler Sirois, the bill sponsor, said he wasn’t in Tallahassee when the Legislature approved the 2018 law raising the minimum age to 21 after a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 students and staff with an AR-15 weapon that same year.
“There is no joy in this,” Sirois said, acknowledging the “tragedy that happened and the Legislature responded at the time the way that they thought best.”
Sirois said if he had been a lawmaker at the time, he would have voted against raising the age.
“In my view, it’s the wrong public policy for Florida to pursue. I’ve offered this legislation now for a number of years and you see it once again today,” the Merritt Island Republican said during the debate.
“I am someone who believes firmly in our Constitution, firmly in our Second Amendment. … I view this legislation as the correct public policy for the state and offer it as a way for families and individuals to keep themselves safe by restoring the rights of 18-year-olds to buy long guns.”
But Democrats said young people — whose brains aren’t fully developed, affecting their impulse control and reasoning — are also at a higher risk for suicide.
“Alcohol, you’ve got to be 21. Handguns in many states, you’ve got to be 21. Rental cars, you’ve got to be 25,” said Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, a Gainesville Democrat. “The logic is the same. Greater access comes with greater responsibility and society routinely delays that access.”
Sirois countered that 18-year-olds can serve on a grand jury, run for public office and join the military. Why can’t they buy a gun?
Last year, the House adopted a similar bill that ultimately died in the Senate. For the 2026 Session, no companion bill has been filed in the Senate, and Senate President Ben Albritton didn’t reveal his intentions when asked about the bill earlier this week.
Albritton told reporters it depends on the Chairs and the Senate’s “appetite for such a bill as a whole.”
During Thursday’s House vote, Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, a Democrat who was the Mayor of Parkland when the shooting happened, said reversing the provisions in the 2018 law would be “devastating” and “heartbreaking.”
“I am so incredibly proud of the bipartisan members who voted for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. It’ll be now almost eight years ago. They showed political courage and did not cower to the loud voices of a very, very small minority,” Hunschofsky said.
“This bill has stood the test of time. It has stood constitutional challenges. There is no reason that the current law should be rolled back because it’s working.”
But Rep. Juan Carlos Porras urged lawmakers to greenlight the bill. He took digs at the Senate, arguing the issue has “gone on deaf ears on the other side of the chamber.”
The House is the people’s house, Porras said.
“We are the most representative form of government to our constituents here in Florida. I thought it was interesting that obviously the Governor chose to shake the Senate President’s hand but not our Speaker’s,” Porras said, referencing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ snub with House Speaker Daniel Perez at the annual State of the State address this week.
“When we talk about our Second Amendment, I empathize with some of our colleagues, but this House does not waver when it comes to our constitutional rights. We do not buckle or yield when it comes to having adversity in this chamber,” said Porras, a Miami Republican.
March For Our Lives and other activists have been fighting against lowering the gun-buying age and spend four-figures on billboards to appear Thursday in Tallahassee.
“Make no mistake, this is not an abstract policy debate,” said Jackie Corin, March For Our Lives’ Executive Director and Parkland survivor. “This is about whether Florida will protect young people or knowingly increase the risk of harm. It is about whether the state will stand by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, a law that was enacted to save lives, or erase it entirely.”
