MIAMI.- Two Florida Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would lower the minimum age to purchase a firearm, including assault rifles, from 21 to 18, and adds to another bill to allow the possession of a firearm without a licence, the latter promoted by the governor, Ron DeSantis.
Republican Representatives Bobby Payne and Tyler Sirois introduced HB 1543 on Tuesday, a day before the start of the 2023 legislative session.
In it, according to the Florida Senate website where the bills are collected, it is to “reduce the minimum age at which a person may purchase firearms and the age of purchasers who are prohibited from specified licensees to sell or transfer firearms”.
In 2018, Florida lawmakers raised the minimum age to buy long guns from 18 to 21 after former student Nikolas Cruz of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, then 19, used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people and wound 17 others.
Since the Parkland shooting on February 14, 2018, students at the school at the scene of the tragedy have led a nationwide campaign for gun control that included the massive “March for Our Lives” on Washington in March of this anus.
They also mobilized voter registration to punish candidates who receive donations from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) and lobbied the Florida government, which passed legislation in 2018 that, among other things, increases the minimum age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21 years old. .
The law also mandates a three-day waiting period for most long-range weapon purchases.
Nikolas Cruz, who had a history of misconduct and aggression, escaped capital punishment and was sentenced to life in prison for lack of unanimity on the jury.
In April of last year, Republican DeSantis took his conservative agenda one step further by pledging to sign legislation allowing state residents to carry a gun without a license, which he called “constitutional support”.
Currently, Floridians do not need a license to purchase a firearm, but they do need a license to carry them in public, so if passed, this law will eliminate that requirement.
The term “Constitutional Carry” refers to the right to carry a firearm, covertly or openly, thanks to the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which gives the American people the right to own and bear arms.
Last January, Florida House Speaker, Republican Paul Renner, announced that the chamber was “ready” to pass the bill promoted by DeSantis.