Agriculture Commissioner Simpson vows bill to lower firearm purchase age

FORT MYERS, Fla. – In an exclusive interview with Florida’s Voice, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson vowed that next year’s agricultural legislative package will include a provision lowering the firearm purchase age.

The age to buy a firearm in Florida was raised to 21 after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. Federally, the handgun age is 18 – but Florida can still lower the age for long guns to 18.

There was a standalone bill aimed at accomplishing that during the 2024 Legislative Session, but it didn’t pick up enough steam and ended up dying as lawmakers wrapped up their work.

“We are going to put it in the [agricultural] package next year,” Simpson said. “No – if you can serve your country, if you can be a law enforcement officer, if you’re 18 years old – you can buy a long gun.”

“It is your constitutional right to do so, and [the age] shouldn’t have been [raised] in the first place,” he said.

The “agriculture package” is typically a higher-priority bill that deals with provisions relating to the work of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the state’s agricultural industry, meaning including the firearm provision in 2025’s session could gain more traction than it did this year.

That package in 2024, still set for consideration by Gov. Ron DeSantis, included a provision to ban lab-grown meat.

This year’s package was brought by Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, and Rep. Danny Alvarez, R-Riverview.

This past session, the Florida House of Representatives did pass legislation lowering the purchase age, but time ran out for the Senate to move on it, ultimately dying in the Rules committee.

Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, and are hoping to hold that power come November’s elections.

Read more about this year’s agricultural package here.