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NRA Takes Fight Against Florida’s Under-21 Gun Purchase Ban to Supreme Court
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review Florida’s law that raised the minimum age to purchase rifles and long guns from 18 to 21. This move follows seven years of litigation challenging the law enacted after the February 2018 Parkland school shooting.
The NRA’s petition highlights a split between federal appeals courts: the 11th Circuit upheld Florida’s law in March with an 8-4 ruling; however, the 5th Circuit found a similar federal restriction unconstitutional. According to the NRA, “This split between the circuits over so fundamental a question is intolerable, and it urgently calls for this Court’s resolution.”
NRA Challenges Historical Basis of Age Restriction
The NRA argues that the 11th Circuit’s analysis is flawed because 18-to-20-year-olds in Florida are legally adults, not minors. “Florida’s law strips the right to acquire firearms from legal adults; 18-to-20-year-olds who enjoy the practical and legal benefits of adulthood,” the NRA’s lawyers wrote.
The gun rights group further contends there is “strong historical evidence that law-abiding 18-to-20-year-old citizens were understood at the founding to enjoy the Second Amendment’s protections.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stated his office would not defend the law if appealed to the Supreme Court. “I believe restricting the right of law-abiding adults to purchase firearms is unconstitutional,” Uthmeier said, adding that “Men and women old enough to fight and die for our country should be able to purchase firearms to defend themselves.”
The Florida House passed a bill in March 2024 that would lower the age for purchasing shotguns and rifles back to 18, the third consecutive year such legislation has been approved but failed to advance in the Senate.
The case has evolved alongside significant Supreme Court decisions on Second Amendment rights, including the 2022 Bruen decision establishing that gun laws must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether it will hear the NRA’s challenge.
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