NRA Sues Florida Over New Gun Control Law

Less than an hour after Florida Governor Rick Scott — who also happens to be running for the US Senate — signed the “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act” into law yesterday, the National Rifle Association announced that they had filed suit against the state over the one of the law’s provisions.

There’s much in the new bill — legislation the NRA’s Florida lobbyist calls “political eyewash” — that gun rights supporters will find anathema, among them:

– A ban on bump fire stocks

– A three-day waiting period on long gun purchases

– The creation of “extreme risk protection orders” to seize guns from suspect individuals

But the provision of the new law that the NRA chose to challenge in court is the new prohibition on long gun sales to anyone under 21 years old. While wait periods, equipment bans and ERPOs are already law in a variety of other states, arbitrarily denying Second Amendment rights to adults of a certain age would seem to be the most promising target for a constitutional challenge.

Here’s the NRA-ILA’s press release announcing the suit:

FAIRFAX, Va. – The National Rifle Association today announced that it has filed a lawsuit challenging the State of Florida’s newly-enacted ban on the purchase of firearms by young adults between the ages of 18-21.

Florida’s ban is an affront to the Second Amendment, as it totally eviscerates the right of law-abiding adults between the ages of 18 and 21 to keep and bear arms. The ban is particularly offensive with respect to young women, as women between the ages of 18 and 21 are much less likely to engage in violent crime than older members of the general population who are unaffected by the ban. Despite this fact, the State of Florida has enacted a sweeping law banning all young adults between the ages of 18 and 21 from purchasing any firearm from any source. Chris Cox, the Executive Director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, stated, “Swift action is needed to prevent young adults in Florida from being treated as second-class citizens when it comes to the right to keep and bear arms.

We are confident that the courts will vindicate our view that Florida’s ban is a blatant violation of the Second Amendment.” The case is National Rifle Association of America, Inc. v. Bondi, and it has been filed in the United States District Court for...

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