Global Courant 2023-05-04 00:08:10
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday supported an effort to lower the statewide age requirement to buy a gun, calling a current law barring 18-year-olds from buying firearms “unconstitutional.”
Florida law requires residents to be at least 21 years old to purchase firearms. A person who is at least 18 years old can purchase rifles and shotguns if that person is a law enforcement officer, correctional officer or service member.
Republican lawmakers want to change that requirement, and on Friday the state House passed a bill that would lower the minimum age to buy “long” guns to 18. DeSantis, an Iraq War veteran, told reporters he supports the measure at a press conference in Jupiter.
He said those old enough to serve in the military should be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that a Florida law requiring residents to be 21 years old to purchase a “long” gun, such as a rifle or shotgun, is unconstitutional. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Look, I was in Iraq. I was there with 18-year-old Marines, 18-year-old soldiers who were put on the street in Fallujah and Rhimadi and told to risk their lives for this country. Then come back after that, and although they carried a firearm the whole time, have they been told that as an adult and as a veteran you cannot exercise your Second Amendment rights here?” DeSantis said.
Federal law prohibits people under the age of 21 from purchasing guns. Florida lawmakers had raised the minimum age for buying shotguns and rifles in sweeping school safety legislation passed in 2018 following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. A 19-year-old former student, armed with a rifle, had killed 17 students and teachers and wounded 17 others.
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Exterior view of the Sunrise Tactical Supply store in Coral Springs, Florida on Feb. 16, 2018, where school shooter Nikolas Cruz purchased his AR-15 to shoot students at Marjory Stoneman High School. Florida lawmakers raised the minimum age to buy guns to 21 after the Parkland mass shooting. (MICHELE EVE SANDBERG/AFP via Getty Images)
AR-15 style rifles are offered for sale in a gun store. April 12, 2021. (REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo)
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The National Rifle Association is suing to overturn the age restrictions in a case currently pending in federal appeals court.
“I know it’s in the courts as well. I think eventually it will be determined that those blanket bans are not constitutional,” DeSantis said.
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“If we’re going to say as a society that the age of adulthood is 21, that would be one thing. But it’s not. I mean, you send people out when they’re 18, they can vote when they’re 18. And so is it a constitutionally protected freedom, I don’t think there is any reason to say that you can just arbitrarily exclude people.”
Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
