The Florida House of Representatives will take up numerous issues during a floor session on Thursday, including a bill that would allow people ages 18 and older to buy long guns.
HB 133, filed by Majority Leader Tyler Sirois (R-Merritt Island), would reverse a law, passed in 2018 after a mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, that increased the minimum age to 21.
Since then, organizations like the NRA have taken the measure to court. In the years following, the House has approved similar measures to bring the minimum age back down, but the Senate hasn’t passed them.
Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed during the massacre in Parkland, said the proposal betrays the memory of the victims and reforms made in their honor.
“I don’t see 18-year-olds walking and marching asking for the right to get arms, to get weapons. No, it’s just the gun industry. And the gun industry has, of course, a blessing of the people in Florida, representatives in Florida,” Oliver said. “It’s like they’re spitting on my son’s legacy.”
