In Florida a 19 or 20-year-old that has served in Afghanistan can’t purchase a weapon.
The National Rifle Association sued in federal court Friday to block a new Florida law, just signed by Gov. Rick Scott, that prohibits gun sales to anyone under 21.
“We filed a lawsuit against the state for violating the constitutional rights of 18- to 21-year-olds,” said Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the NRA in Florida. NRA lawyers in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C., were working on the complaint Friday afternoon, and filed the complaint moments before the court’s deadline.
Hammer had previously called the legislation “political eye-wash.”
The suit was filed just over an hour after Scott signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act into law. He expected opposition from the gun lobby.
“I’m an NRA member, and I was an NRA member when I became governor. I’m going to be an NRA member when I’m not governor,” Scott said at the bill signing. “I’m sure there are NRA members that agree with this bill, some that don’t agree with this bill.”
The law was enacted in the wake of the Valentine’s Day shooting death of 17 students and teachers at Stoneman Douglas, allegedly by a 19-year-old former male student who authorities said legally bought the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack.
The lawsuit names Attorney General Pam Bondi and Rick Swearingen, Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Scott’s office said he was reviewing the lawsuit.