Fla. Senate president opposes lowering gun-buying age

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said Wednesday she’s not in favor of lowering the age requirement to purchase rifles and other long guns in Florida.

"We don't have it in the Senate," Passidomo told reporters. "Nobody filed it."

A bill filed in the House earlier this month seeks to reduce the minimum age at which a person may purchase a gun from 21 to 18.

Federal law already imposes a 21-year age requirement for handguns.

HB 1543 would reverse part of a 2018 law that raised the minimum age requirement after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The Republican-controlled House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted 12-5 along party lines Monday to advance the bill.

But Passidomo made it clear there is "no bill to support" in the Senate.

"Nobody's brought it up to me," she said. "Nobody's mentioned it to me in the Senate."

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