TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Florida Legislature is considering several bills that could ease current gun restrictions across the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis supported House Bill 759, allowing him to reduce his age from 21 to 18 years old and buy longer guns and rifles.
House Bill 759 will stop the committee halting in the home and be discussed on the floor.
“After raising the age to 18 to 21 for the purchase of a long gun, it’s going in the wrong direction,” said leader Christine Hunshovsky.
That was the law that followed the massive shooting of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland before the governor took office.
Following the 2018 Marjorie Stone Man Douglas High School massacre, then-Governor Rickscott signed a package of gun safety measures, including a provision that raises the age of gun purchases from 18 to 21.
State leaders and gun safety advocates against HB 759 held a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
Tom Hixson, a US Marine Corps veteran, spoke about his father’s commitment to service.
Chris Hixson, athletic director at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, died while protecting students as a barrage of bullets that rippled over a 1,200 classroom building.
He was one of 17 people killed during the Valentine’s Day massacre in 2018.
“Now, lawmakers want to abolish the progress made in 2018 and allow 18-year-olds to own firearms, increasing the risk of MSD shootings coming back,” Tom Hixon said. “I will kill innocent people like my father and 16 other daughters and sisters, sons, brothers and fathers.”
That has not stopped lawmakers from trying to rewind the age limit for guns each year.
Changes have been proposed previously to facilitate restrictions.
They stalled or failed because there weren’t any state senators on board in many cases.
It would require a move in the Senate for the bill to go to the governor’s desk, and it is unclear whether that would lead to this legislative meeting.
During a stop at Seaport Manatee this month, the governor discussed his push to loosen current gun laws.
“I think I am certifying people’s second constitutional amendment,” DeSantis said. “You have a 20-year-old Marine carrying firearms to Fallujah where I worked that day. They come here and they can’t buy a rifle to go hunting.
This is not the first time the governor has publicly advocated to ease restrictions.
In 2023, the governor signed the bill, allowing some Floridians to carry hidden weapons without permission.
On Wednesday, HB 759 heads to the House floor for the vote.
