WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida House is set to vote Wednesday on a HB 759, a proposal to reduce the age to buy firearms from 21 years old to 18 and reverse a post-Parkland high school shooting reform law.
WPTV Reporter Zitlali Solache spoke with Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in 2018.
Pollack supports the bill, saying lowering the age is not the problem.
“If that sheriff’s department at that time would’ve enforced laws that were in place and arrested (Nikolas Cruz), he never would’ve been able to purchase a rifle,” Pollack said.
Pollack adds younger gun owners are not the issue, but mental illness is.
“They could lower it; it doesn’t make a difference, that doesn’t bother me. ” Pollack said. “I’d rather them put more effort in to keep the mentally ill and criminals from being able to purchase a firearm.”
After the Parkland shooting, former governor Rick Scott signed a law that stated you had to be 21 years old to purchase a gun in Florida.
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Members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) call the age restriction a violation of Florida’s Second Amendment rights.
Some parents in St. Lucie County,call this bill a step backwards.
“It’s scary to think that somebody who has just graduated high school has the right to purchase a gun,” Ayleen Charles said.
While Charles understands it’s a constitutional right, she believes gun safety policies save lives.
“I know that there’s the argument that no amount of laws are going to stop the guns going into the hands of the wrong people, but I do believe that if we pass this law is just going in the wrong direction,” said Charles.
If passed by all committees, the bill would take effect July 1, 2025.
