Will the fourth time be the charm for a bill in Florida repealing the prohibition on retail gun sales to adults under the age of 21, or will Senate Republicans once again block the legislation from getting to Gov. Ron DeSantis's desk for his signature?
Rep. Tyler Sirois is running the latest iteration of a bill that has passed the Florida House three years in a row, only to be stymied by a Republican Senate President who has blocked the legislation from moving forward in the upper chamber. Both former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and current Senate President Ben Albritton have objected to the measure, which would repeal one of the post-Parkland gun laws enacted in 2018.
The law is also subject to a legal challenge, and the Supreme Court will soon decide whether or not to accept the case. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has declined to defend the law in court, and DeSantis has publicly called for the law to be repealed as well, but so far those officials have been unable to sway Albritton into allowing the bill to receive a fair hearing in the Senate next session.
In fact, right now there are concerns that Albritton may back more gun control legislation after a state appellate court struck down Florida's ban on open carry.
The state’s First District Court of Appeals ruled last month that the 1987 law banning open carry in Florida was unconstitutional, and Uthmeier declared five days later that, in light of that ruling, he was declaring that open carry is now the law of the state.
However, speaking during a press conference at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office two weeks later, Uthmeier acknowledged that changing the law based on the court’s ruling was “not the cleanest situation and there’s likely cleanup that’s going to be needed by the Legislature.”
In Tallahassee this week, Albritton told reporters “there are some questions” about the new policy, and that he was seeking advice from Florida sheriffs, whose political organization, the Florida Sheriffs Association, historically had opposed open carry.
:There are some questions about the Capitol, specifically, about how well guns play in or would not play in, so the attorney general has given some guidance on this, so we’re contemplating all of that, and wanting to do what’s right for all Floridians. So, we’ll just continue to think it through. We’re again seeking input from various folks who have the expertise to help us understand and we’ll see how it goes,” he said.
It's not a good sign that Albritton is turning to a group that's been opposed to open carry to help him decide if additional legislation is needed, or if the state will just have the same regulations for both open and concealed carry.
As for the future of Florida's ban on retail gun sales to under-21s, the Supreme Court has yet to schedule NRA v. Glass to be considered in conference. The justices may be waiting for the DOJ to reply to two similar lawsuits that are also pending the Court's consideration; McCoy v. ATF and West Virginia Citizens Defense League v. ATF, both of which challenge the federal prohibition on handgun sales to under-21s. The statute was upheld by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, but the Fifth Circuit has held the statute violates the Second Amendment; setting up a circuit court split that should increase the odds of SCOTUS granting cert to one or more of the cases.
Republican lawmakers shouldn't wait to see what the Supreme Court will do with the issue. The Florida House should make repeal of the gun sale ban a top priority in the 2026 session, and DeSantis should apply as much pressure as possible to Senate leadership to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Young adults are still adults, and they should have full access to their Second Amendment rights.
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