In the wake of Parkland, Florida lawmakers got jumpy. They believed they had to do something to at least look like they were addressing what happened in that shooting or else they’d get voted out of office.
Well, they did, and a lot of them got voted out of office anyway, because most people in Florida didn’t want gun control.
One of the worst offenses, at least in my book, was the ban on long gun sales for legal adults under 21. It was ridiculous. Yeah, the killer was under 21, but we’ve seen plenty of mass murders take place where the killer was too young to buy any firearm, and they still got one just the same. Meanwhile, law-abiding citizens were told they couldn’t buy the means to defend themselves.
Now, at least one Florida lawmaker wants to fix that past mistake.
The Senate resisted last year’s attempt to expand gun sales to where they were before 2018’s Parkland massacre, but new legislation is on tap for the 2025 Session.
Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican from Brevard County, is sponsoring legislation (SB 94) that would repeal the current prohibition on people above the age of 18 but below the age of 21 from buying firearms.
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Florida’s 2018 law does not prohibit people under 18 from owning guns, noted then-Gov. Rick Scott in comments on the bill in 2022. But it does block the purchase of firearms for everyone under 21 but members of law enforcement. Violations of the law are third-degree felonies.
“When you turn 18, you are eligible to enlist in our nation’s finest fighting forces and are entrusted with a rifle to defend our country. I believe that if you can use a rifle in war to protect our nation, you should also be able to purchase one at the age of 18,” Fine told Florida Politics.
He’s not wrong.
Look, I get the argument that they can still own guns, but I find it unmoving. It’s still a violation of those adults’ right to keep and bear arms because it requires someone else to take action on their behalf. If the only way I can speak freely is if someone gives me a microphone, then I’m not really free to speak. I’m only free if someone else takes pity on me and allows me to do so.
Similarly, if they can’t buy a gun for themselves, these folks can’t exercise their right unless someone gives them a firearm. It’s contingent on someone else granting them their right, essentially, which isn’t a right at all.
And, as Fine notes, if you enlist at 18, you’re handed a rifle to use to defend this country. We don’t have these kids shooting up their bases or killing their buddies, even in war zones when literally everyone is carrying a firearm all the time.
Florida needs to make this right. This is yet another chance, and let’s be real here. This is going to keep coming up until they do it, so they might as well just get over it and repeal this idiotic law.
Read the full article here
