Gunshine State? FL Lawmakers to Debate Slew of Measures Loosening, Tightening Gun Laws

Florida lawmakers are set to debate a whopping 26 gun-related bills as the state's 60-day legislative session kicks off Tuesday, making firearm laws one of the top priorities for the Sunshine State Legislature.

Made up of 15 Democrat-backed measures and eleven Republican ones, many of the suggested laws ask for Florida law to bend in opposite directions. Conservatives hope to further loosen gun restrictions, which were bipartisanly tightened after the massacre at a Parkland high school in 2018, and Democrats are trying to fend off their efforts in the increasingly red state.

Although 32 gun-related bills were filed across both chambers, seven are duplicates, leaving 26 comparable proposals. All but four have counterparts in both the House and Senate, which is necessary for any bill to become law.

What are the Republican bills?

Republicans are focusing on lowering the minimum age to purchase firearms, seeking to reverse a provision passed after the Parkland shooting that raised the age from 18 to 21. Three bills filed by Rep. Michelle Salzman and Senators Jay Collins, Randy Fine, and Blaise Ingoglia aim to roll back that age requirement, a measure Republicans have attempted in previous sessions.

Four other bills by Fine, Collins, Sen. Joe Gruters, and Rep. Jeff Holcomb would expand the locations where Floridians can carry concealed weapons. Gruters' asks that judges be allowed to conceal-carry firearms in courthouses, Fine's would let college students carry on campus, and Holcomb's and Collins' would both allow off-duty law enforcement officers to have handguns at athletic events.

The remaining bills would legalize tools that let certain weapons fire like machine guns—called bump stocks—repeal a law banning the sale of firearms and ammunition during an emergency, criminalize AI-gun detection software in most public spaces, and consider certain military and law enforcement officers in compliance with concealed weapons licensing laws.

Four of the 15 Democrat-filed gun bills, filed by Rep. Dan Daley and Sen. Tina Polsky, would require background checks for ammunition sales or transfers.

Two more bills filed by Polsky and Rep. Kevin Chambliss directly challenge the Republican-backed bump stock proposal by reclassifying modified guns as illegal machine guns.

Three of the bills tackle firearms and ammunition left in unattended vehicles. Rep. Yvonne Hinson and Senators Darryl Rouson and Lori Berman have filed bills requiring unattended guns and ammo to be locked in vehicles, with Berman's version providing criminal penalties for violators.

Another three bills, filed by Polsky and Rep. Christine Hunchofsky, require background checks for everyone involved—"in whole or in part"—in the sale or transfer of a firearm, banning all dealings involving guns without a valid serial number, and creating the Veteran's Firearm Suicide Reduction Task Force to combat the devastatingly high rate of suicide among veterans, which is 57% higher than the national average.

The remaining bills repeal a law preempting firearm policies to the Legislature, create a list of "sensitive locations" where firearms are banned—directly contradicting both Fine's and Gruters' bills—and bans semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.