By Paul Waldmiller
Did You know that in October, a federal appeals court will hear arguments in the National Rifle Association’s constitutional challenge to a Florida law that prevents people under age 21 from purchasing rifles?
A federal judge as well as a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the age restriction, but the full appeals court last year decided to take the case in a full hearing before the entire court.
The National Rifle Association argued in a July 31 brief that the Florida law did not align with a 2022 Supreme Court opinion in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which made decision that gun laws must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
While the full appeals court decided last year to take up the issue, the case was put on hold until after the Supreme Court issued a decision in a Texas gun case. The Supreme Court’s 8-1 decision in June in the Texas case backed a ban on gun possession by people under domestic-violence restraining orders and was a victory for the federal government and gun-control supporters.
The Florida state House in 2023 and 2024 approved bills to lower the minimum age from 21, to age 18 to purchase rifles. The Florida Senate however, did not pass the measures, keeping the current, 2018 law preventing those under the age of 21, from purchasing any long guns.