Senate President Ben Albritton (left) tears up in the Senate chamber on March 19, 2025, while talking about the 2018 shooting in Parkland. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)
Senate President Ben Albritton is still playing his cards close to the vest when it comes to whether he supports a proposal that would lower the age of an individual in Florida to purchase a long gun from 21 to 18.
Albritton, though, became emotional Wednesday when discussing his visit to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland — the site of the 2018 shootings that led to the passage of that law and other public safety measures that the governor and other Republicans have indicated they want to repeal this year.
Reporters asked Albritton during a media availability whether he had any reaction to the statement made by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier last Friday after a federal appeals court upheld that law, which had been challenged in court by the National Rifle Association.
Uthmeier said on X that he believes the age restriction is unconstitutional and that, if the NRA opts to challenge it in the U.S. Supreme Court, “I am directing my office not to defend this law.”
Albritton said he was aware of Uthmeier’s statement and had no response to it.
“I’m working through the staff,” he said. “Working through the legal counsel. I want to understand what that means, what the ramifications of that would be. I’ve got a respect for every branch of government, and have not made any decisions about that at this point.”
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I’m an NRA lifetime member. Nearly every day I carry at least one weapon. I have a concealed carry permit. The Legislature passed concealed carry, permitless concealed carry, constitutional carry. That shows this Legislature takes the Second Amendment seriously.
– Senate President Ben Albritton
Remembering Luke
Albritton pivoted to his experience going to Parkland in Broward County with his wife Missy and visiting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which was demolished last June.
He said that experience had affected them both “profoundly,” and that he had since become acquainted with Tom and Gena Hoyer, who lost their 15-year-old son Luke in the massacre that took the lives of 17 people.
“When I walked into the building, I didn’t know it. But when I left, I immediately started thinking about our kids,” he said, his voice beginning to crack. “Luke was the Hoyer’s youngest child. So, I continue through this entire discussion to think about it.”
Albritton has already said he does not support open carry legislation in Florida, a proposal that DeSantis has mentioned several times in recent months that he’d like to see the Legislature address. Albritton has been noncommittal on the pending legislation to lower the age to buy rifles and shotguns. The Florida House has approved that language twice during the past two years but it has not moved in the Senate.
And this year so far appears to be no different. The 2025 legislation has passed one committee in the House and goes before its second and final committee stop on Thursday but the Senate companion has not been heard yet.
“This is not easy,” he said. “It’s not easy. I’m an NRA lifetime member. Nearly every day I carry at least one weapon. I have a concealed carry permit. The Legislature passed concealed carry, permitless concealed carry, constitutional carry. That shows this Legislature takes the Second Amendment seriously.”
He then apologized to the reporters for getting emotional, but said he didn’t take “any of this lightly.”
“None of it. And I do the best that I can to measure based on my values. Based on my experiences. That includes living in rural Florida. It includes being an NRA lifetime member. It includes not concealed carry permit. It includes Luke Hoyer. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.”
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