TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida House is again moving to pass a controversial bill that would lower the minimum age to purchase rifles and other long guns from 21 to 18, though the Senate has not given any public sign that it is on board.

The Republican-controlled House Criminal Justice Subcommittee on Tuesday voted 11-5 along party lines to approve the bill (HB 133), which now only needs to clear the House Judiciary Committee before it could go to the full House during the 2026 legislative session.

The bill would reverse a decision made by the Legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott to increase the minimum gun-purchase age after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Nikolas Cruz, then 19, used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people at the school.

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