The Florida House could be ready after the 2026 legislative session starts in January to take up a bill that would lower the minimum age from 21 to 18 to buy rifles and other long guns.
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday voted 13-7 to approve the bill, which would undo a 2018 law that increased the minimum age to 21.
The law passed after the February 2018 mass shooting at Parkland Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people.
The Judiciary Committee was the final panel scheduled to hear the bill (HB 133), meaning the proposal is positioned to go to the full House during the upcoming session.
The House has passed similar measures in recent years, but the Senate has not gone along.
The Republican-controlled committee’s vote Tuesday was nearly along party lines, with Rep. Hillary Cassel, R-Dania Beach, crossing party lines to oppose the bill.
Supporters of the bill, which is sponsored by Majority Leader Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, said it would protect Second Amendment rights for people under age 21. “In my view, this is the correct public policy to pursue, to restore the rights of law-abiding 18-year-olds,” Sirois said.
But opponents argued the increased minimum age was a crucial part of trying to bolster gun safety after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting.
“There is no right that is absolute in the Constitution," Rep. Mike Gottlieb, D-Davie, said. "We, as lawmakers, make laws that benefit the health, safety and welfare of the public. That is why we have this rule in effect after Parkland."
The National Rifle Association has challenged the constitutionality of the law.
A federal district judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law.
The NRA has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue.