Florida Republicans Sen. Randy Fine and Rep. Joel Rudman are doubling down on the Second Amendment as they prepare to resign to run for newly emptied congressional seats in hopes of positing a strong conservative stance in the blood-red districts.
Rudman from Navarre and Fine from Brevard have each filed hefty legislation for the 2025 Session walking back most laws enacted after the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland. Rudman, who's running for Matt Gaetz's CD-1 seat in Northwest Florida, and Fine, who's running for Mike Waltz's seat in CD-6, are competing in heavily conservative areas ahead of the special election primaries on Jan. 28.
Rudman on Monday filed a sweeping bill allowing Floridians to open carry weapons, striking laws letting courts take guns away from those deemed a threat, and permitting state Lawmakers to conceal carry guns in Capitol meetings. This was the first of eight bills he plans to file before he resigns to run on Jan. 1, two months before the session begins.
"I look forward to our state once again earning the title of the Gunshine State, where citizens are no longer asked to trade God-given freedoms for a politician's empty promise of security," Rudman said, though the bill shows no signs of gaining Senate support after the upper chamber's Republican President told reporters last month that he's "opposed" to open carry legislation.
Fine, meanwhile, filed a bill Tuesday repealing a Parkland-era gun law that banned Floridians under 21 from purchasing firearms. The 2018 law was passed in response to 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz shooting up Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School with an AR-15-style rifle, murdering 17.
Fine's bill would lower the gun-buying age to 18 years old, which is what the law was before the Parkland massacre. A similar bill overturning the Parkland law died in the House in the 2023 and 2024 sessions.
"When you turn 18, you are eligible to enlist in our nation’s finest fighting forces and are entrusted with a rifle to defend our country,” said Fine. “I believe that if you can use a rifle to protect our nation, you should also be able to purchase one.”
“After the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas School Safety Act passed in 2018, I committed to addressing the inconsistency that allows an 18-year-old to be given a firearm by a parent or purchase one in a private transaction but not from a licensed firearms dealer," Fine continued, noting that he wants to "get that done" before he leaves the state Senate on Mar. 31 to potentially clinch a seat in Congress.
While Fine is expected to cruise to an easy win with his Trump endorsement against two low-name-ID opponents, Rudman faces an uphill battle against nine other Republican candidates—including Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who was personally urged to run by the President-elect.
The special general election is on April 1.
