It’s Gun Rights vs. Public Safety As 2026 Florida Legislative Session Approaches

Gun rights and public safety advocates would never mistake the rotunda between the House and Senate wings of the Florida Capitol for the OK Corral, but they are not unlike Wyatt Earp and Billy Dalton moving in place for what may be an epic battle. 

The two sides have been at a standstill for eight years, ever since lawmakers passed a series of gun regulations after the 2018 mass shooting at Broward County’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a teen gunman killed 17 and wounded another 17. 

Gun groups such as the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America turned to the courts to repeal the restrictions that included a minimum age to possess a firearm. Meanwhile, public safety groups worked to expand gun regulations. 

But nothing much has happened at the Capitol. 

Now, court rulings over the past two months may have ended the Legislature’s ability to remain silent in a debate that pits public safety against Second Amendment rights.   

There are 13 gun-related proposals filed for the 2026 legislative session, including some that have failed to get a committee hearing for years, such as a repeal of the minimum age requirement, universal background checks for purchases and mandatory storage requirements.  

Advocates say the proposals are needed because the court rulings have created a confusing legal landscape in Florida. Gun rules may be different in Tallahassee, Sarasota and West Palm Beach because the cities are in different judicial circuits where judges reached different conclusions in similar cases. 

Take Broward Circuit Judge Frank Ledee, who declared the minimum age requirement unconstitutional and called out the Legislature. Ledee tied his ruling to a September appeals court decision that found the ban on open carry inconsistent with federal law. He said it was up to the Legislature to codify and clarify his and the appeal court’s decisions. 

Public safety and gun rights advocates have been offering lawmakers different proposals for the past decade that clarify who can own guns, how they are to store them, and where they can take them. 

For instance, Rep. Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, last month filed a bill to repeal the Stoneman Douglas law prohibiting people under the age of 21 from buying rifles and shotguns. This is the fourth consecutive year the bill has been introduced. 

Sirois said the measure corrects an “inequity” in the law where a teen can receive a long rifle as a gift or inheritance but otherwise cannot legally possess one. 

“Why is it that you can give a long gun as a gift, but the single mom who lives in the rough part of town can’t go buy one to protect herself and her family? That is the public policy question that we are putting to you today,” Sirois said earlier this year during a floor debate on the proposal. 

Three times, the House passed the measure. Three times the Senate ignored it. 

“They have really been weak on gun rights. They crow about it a lot, but actions say otherwise,” Luis Valdes of Gun Owners of America said about the Senate. 

A Senate spokesperson declined to answer whether the repeal or other gun rights bills would be heard during the 2026 session. 

In the meantime, the other side hasn’t had any better luck. A package of bills to build on the Stoneman Douglas-era regulations has been filed repeatedly without ever getting a committee hearing.

This is the eighth session that Rep. Dan Daley, D-Sunrise, has filed a universal background check bill named for 14-year-old Jaime Gutenberg, one of the Stoneman Douglas victims. “My hope is that reason and public safety will prevail and be addressed this session,” Daley said. 

Republicans hold two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate, but Daley described a leadership that seems confused on how to balance competing interests. 

“Republicans are acting like the dog who finally caught a car. They love open carry publicly for political reasons, but they know how dangerous it really is – especially after hearing from law enforcement,” Daley said.  

Daley and other Democrats have filed a package of proposals that would:

• Mandate universal background checks on all firearms and ammunition purchases.
• Require secure gun storage laws. 
• Impose extreme protection orders for domestic/dating violence suspects.
• Require the reporting of lost and stolen firearms.

The Second Amendment advocates want state law to allow adults 18–20 to be able to purchase and carry firearms in public and to reduce the number of locations where guns are prohibited, such as on college and university campuses. 

“There is not one pro-gun piece of legislation, other than repeal of the minimum age, filed for the session,” Valdez said. 

Seven of the 13 proposals introduced so far increase regulations, four would loosen them, and two are neutral, such as establishing Firearm Safety Awareness Month and a pilot program for gun violence prevention. 

Gun bills filed for 2026 Florida Legislative Session

• HB 17/SB 156: Criminal Offenses Against Law Enforcement Officer: Revises prohibition on use or threatened use of force to resist arrest; enhances punishment for manslaughter, and assault or battery when committed against officers.
• HB 41/SB 88: “Jaime’s Law”: requiring background checks for the sale or transfer of ammunition.
• HB 43: Provides exemption from public records requirements for records containing certain information pertaining to buyer or transferee of ammunition.
• SB 52: Security Services at Places of Worship: Providing an exemption from licensure requirements for certain volunteers who provide armed security services for places of worship under certain circumstances, etc.
• HB 63: Prohibits carrying handgun, weapon, or firearm into certain locations.
• SB 80: Requires persons who store or leave firearms or ammunition in motor vehicles or vessels under their control to keep the firearms or ammunition locked inside specified locations.
• SB 90: Provides an exemption from public records requirements for records pertaining to a buyer or transferee of ammunition.
• SB 95: Exempts certain persons providing voluntary armed security services at churches or ecclesiastical or denominational organizations from specified requirement.
• HB 133: Reduces minimum age at which person may purchase firearm & age of purchasers to which specified licensees are prohibited from selling or transferring firearm; removes exception.
• HB 155: Requires IMPACT GVN of City of Gainesville to develop & implement Gun Violence Prevention Pilot Program.
• HB 159/SB 256: Storage of Handguns in Private Conveyances and Vessels: Provides requirements for storage of handguns in private conveyances & vessels.
• HB 171: Designates month of June as “Responsible Firearm Safety Awareness Month.”
• SB 180: Revising the standard by which adults and minors are considered criminally negligent in the storage of a firearm under specified circumstances.