MIAMI.- A bill to lower the minimum age to purchase a long gun in Florida from 21 to 18 and thereby reverse a measure passed in 2018 following the Parkland shootings passed in its first vote in a state legislative committee.

HB 1543 is one of several gun-related bills Florida Congress plans to discuss in the current session, all aimed at making it easier to own and carry guns.

Given the large majority the Republican Party enjoys in both houses of the Florida legislature, it is very likely that HB 1543 will be approved, as will another bill allowing the concealed carry of weapons in public places without need a permit. .

“When we have shootings and gun violence among 18, 19 and 20 year olds, we slap people the face when we say, well, let them go get a gun,” Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby said. during the debate on Bill HB 1543 before a Florida House committee on Monday.

Florida has seen two bloody shootings in recent years: the 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando that killed 49 and the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which killed 17.

According to former US Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel Powell, every three hours someone is shot dead in Florida.

On the eve of regular Florida legislative sessions, Giffords Florida, Chief Magnusson and Dr. Starks will call on lawmakers to halt progress on unlicensed gun legislation and highlight the risks involved.

Mucarsel Powell made the remarks at an event last Saturday in Miami Beach attended by former Democratic federal congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who suffered severe brain damage following a shooting in Arizona in 2011.

Giffords announced at the Jewish Museum in Miami Beach that his foundation will launch a program in Florida to stop these projects promoted by Governor Ron DeSantis, who is credited with presidential aspirations.

The Giffords Foundation program in Florida will include radio and television campaigns and will aim to “educate” Floridians so that when they vote, they choose candidates who advocate the need for gun control in the United States. United to stop the bleeding of gun violence, said Mucarsel Powell.

After the Parkland Massacre, Florida Congress approved raising the minimum age to purchase long guns from 18 to 21, as established by US federal law.

Last week, gun control advocates in Florida celebrated that a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit had upheld the constitutionality of the 2018 law, challenged by the National Rifle Association. .

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