Despite recent mass shootings, Florida Legislature considers repealing gun age law
Tallahassee, Florida — A 20-year-old man opened fire on the Florida State University campus Thursday, killing two people and wounding six others, officials said. Authorities disclosed the suspected gunman was an FSU student and son of a sheriff's deputy who had used his mother's former service weapon in the shooting.
However, just a little over a mile from FSU, the Florida legislature has been considering the removal of a gun control law passed after the 2018 massacre in Parkland in which 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"It's one of the hardest things my wife and I ever had to do, is come home after learning about our daughter's murder and explain that to her little brother," said Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman and one of those killed in the massacre.
A number of survivors of that shooting now attend FSU, including schoolmates of his late daughter, Montalto told CBS News.
"After living through the MSD shooting in 2018, I never thought it would hit close to home again," wrote FSU law student Josh Gallagher on social media Thursday. "Then I'm in the FSU Law Library and hear on alarm: active shooter on campus. No matter your politics, we need to meet—and something has to change. Prayers to the victims and families."
Weeks after the tragedy, Florida passed wide-ranging gun control legislation, which among other things, prohibited most people under 21 from buying rifles and other long guns. Republican state leaders led the way on the legislation at the time.
But seven years later, there is a renewed push to strip it from the books with Republican politicians leading the way yet again, now in the other direction.
"It wasn't a very good idea," said Luis Valdes, with the advocacy group Gun Owners of America. "And lawmakers have even admitted that they were emotionally high strung, and they made mistakes."
The repeal of parts of the legislation passed the Florida House of Representatives last month in a mostly party-line vote with most Republicans in support, but it appears the Florida Senate will block the effort. Similar repeal efforts also failed in 2023 and 2024. A federal appeals court also upheld the law in 2023.
Federal law already prevents people under 21 from buying handguns. But even though the Florida law bars people under 21 from purchasing rifles and other long guns, they are still allowed under state law to receive firearms as gifts.
"You're an adult at 18," Valdes said. "If they're going to make the argument that we need to raise the age, then raise it for voting, raise it for getting into contracts, raise it for getting into being married."
Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz is a Marjory Stoneman alum who was a state representative following Parkland and helped pass the initial law. He bristles at the idea that the legislation was emotionally driven.
"Well, you know, they didn't attend any of the funerals on any of these parents," Moskowitz said. "If they want to see emotion, go watch a parent eulogize their 14 year old as they're putting them in a wooden box."
