In an issue rooted in the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Florida House on Wednesday approved repealing a law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns.
If the Florida House has its way, a key provision of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act will be reversed.
That landmark legislation, passed in the immediate aftermath of the school shooting that killed 17 people, raised the age to buy a gun to 21 because the killer was able to legally purchase an AR-15 at the age of 18.
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WATCH HERESurrounded by families of the victims, who lobbied hard for the law, then-Gov. Rick Scott signed the bipartisan bill into law just three weeks after the massacre occurred, saying, “And I know that many people believe that this bill has too much gun control.”
Many people obviously still think so, which is why the bill to move the gun purchase age back to 18 passed easily in the House.
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“I do support it,” said Ryan Petty, who serves on the MSD High School Public Safety Commission and the state’s Board of Education.
Petty’s daughter, Alaina, was murdered in the mass shooting.
“And I think every adult in the state of Florida has the right to defend themselves, and this provision prevents 18 to 20-year-olds from being able to defend themselves,” Petty said.
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“Those arguments are theoretical,” said Tom Hoyer, who lost his son, Luke, in the tragedy. “My reality is a kid was able to buy a rifle at 19 and kill my son, and that’s why we think that’s an important speed bump.”
Along with Tony Montalto, Hoyer founded Stand With Parkland, a non-partisan group that advocates for school safety issues. It grew from the effort to pass the law in 2018. Petty is also a member.
“It was a terrible tragedy, everybody came together and crafted something in a very short time that turned out to be very good, it’s working, it’s just very sad and disappointing to me that people are trying to chip away at it,” Hoyer said.
Montalto has been an outspoken advocate for school safety and gun safety since the day when his daughter, Gina, was killed in the massacre. He strongly supports keeping the firearms purchase age at 21, noting that the current law allows active duty military personnel and law enforcement officers under the age of 21 to buy guns.
“I would hope that people look at this again as a public safety issue, and not buy into the what-ifs, because quite frankly, may family deals with the what-is, and this law was passed because of the what-is, and that is, the murder of my daughter in her school, the murder of her schoolmates, the murder of the teachers by someone who was legally able to purchase a weapon who was under the age of 21,” Montalto said.
Petty maintains that the age restriction was included in the original bill as a compromise to assure its passage.
“It’s long past time, actually, that the legislature remove this provision and we get back to focusing on the things that actually do protect our schools, the behavioral threat management that we do, the guardian program, the fact that we’re locking doors and monitoring who’s on campus,” Petty said.
A companion bill has not yet made it to the Florida Senate, so its passage is far from assured at this point. The Senate rejected similar legislation the last couple of times it came up.
