The House Judiciary Committee in Florida recently approved a measure that would repeal the state’s ban on commercial gun sales to adults under the age of 21, and the full House could vote on the measure as early as January, when the 2026 session begins. Passage in the lower chamber is a near certainty, since the House has approved similar language in each of the past three sessions.
The hang up has been the Florida Senate, where Republican leadership has refused to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. To the best of my knowledge, Senate President Ben Albritton has never come right out and said he opposes the measure, but he’s stymied progress on repeal of the post-Parkland gun law all the same.
Albritton has been vocally opposed to open carry in Florida, which is now the law of the land thanks to a state court decision earlier this year that held the prohibition a violation of the Second Amendment. The state’s ban on gun sales to under-21s is also facing a legal challenge, but the U.S. Supreme Court has kept NRA v. Glass in a holding pattern (along with several other challenges to gun control laws impacting young adults) for the past several months, and it seems likely that the Court will hang on to all of those cases and remand them back to the lower courts for further review after the justices issue their decisions in Wolford v. Lopez and U.S. v. Hamani next year.
In a recent interview, Albritton hinted that, whatever his personal take on the gun ban, he may allow the full Senate to vote on a repeal bill next session.
Asked whether the Senate would revisit the post-Parkland gun reforms — including lowering the firearm purchase age from 21 to 18, Albritton avoided taking a definitive stance.
“I am not the king of the Florida Senate… it’s going to have to be up to the Florida Senate,” he said. “We’ll see where the Senate ends up on it.”
He did, however, make clear where he stands on gun-free zones:
“I am absolutely in support of the existing secure zones,” including courthouses, government buildings, and school/college campuses.
In order to “see where the Senate ends up on it,” the Senate would have to take a vote. And despite Albritton’s attempt to minimize his power as Senate President, he has enormous influence in setting the Senate’s agenda.
Albritton isn’t the only lawmaker standing in the way of repeal, however. Former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo chairs the Senate Rules Committee, which serves as a de facto gatekeeper on what bills reach the Senate floor. She’s also been a staunch opponent of repeal, and refused to allow the Rules Committee to hear a House repeal bill last session.
Passidomo is term limited and ineligible to run for re-election next year, so there’ll be a new Rules Committee chairperson in 2027. Until then, though, she is in a position to thwart any attempt to repeal the ban on gun sales to adults under the age of 21.
If Albritton isn’t king of the Florida Senate, then Kathleen Passidomo isn’t queen of the upper chamber. And if Albritton is serious about seeing where the Senate stands on repeal, he needs to do everything he can to bring that bill to the floor, including removing Passidomo as Rules Committee chair if necessary.
I don’t see Albritton taking those steps without a lot of pressure from fellow senators and their constituents, to be honest. Still, Albritton is now on the record stating that repeal should be left up to the Florida Senate, not a committee chair, and Florida gun owners need to hold his feet to the fire until he delivers on that statement.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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