One major part of the 2018 gun safety law approved by the Florida Legislature following the mass school shooting in Parkland would already be history if the state House had its way. The chamber voted earlier this month (for the fourth year in a row) to lower the legal age to purchase a long gun from 21 to 18.
Now at least one member of the House wants to revoke another provision of that law, establishing risk-protection orders. These can authorize confiscation of firearms from individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others. Rep. Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, would accomplish this through HB 6029.
The way they work is that individuals must go to a law enforcement officer to report concerns about people they fear could turn violent, as only local enforcement may ask a court to enter a risk-protection order. The petition must be accompanied by an affidavit made under oath stating specific statements, actions, or facts that give rise to a reasonable fear of significant dangerous acts by the respondent.
The court may establish a risk-protection order for a period it deems appropriate, up to and including but not exceeding 12 months. Subjects of these orders are entitled to a hearing if they want to regain access.
Since the law’s implementation, Florida courts have authorized more than 19,000 risk-protection orders, according to the group Everytown for Gun Safety. Noting how many orders have been authorized, Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman argues there is no substantive reason to repeal it.
“Why would we want to reverse something that has prevented mass tragedies?” she said outside the Old Capitol building Wednesday during a press conference organized by the gun safety groups Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action (the latter founded following the Parkland shootings).
“I will tell you, law enforcement is very happy with it. They like having that as a tool because there are people who are dangerous to themselves and to others and shouldn’t have [a firearm]. So, I hope law enforcement will continue to join with all of us to make sure that red-flag law stays on the books in Florida. ”
Second Amendment
Florida’s red-flag laws are strongly opposed by Second Amendment enthusiasts, who include Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“If you look at this red-flag law that was passed, they can go in and say, ‘This person’s a danger, they should have their firearms taken away,’ which is property in addition to being something connected with a constitutional right,” DeSantis said during a press conference on opening day of the 2025 legislative session.
“The burden shifts where you have to prove to a court that you are not a menace or a threat. That’s not the way due process works,” he continued.
Gun Owners of America, a pro-gun rights group, also opposes the law and supports Sirois’ bill.
“Florida’s Red Flag Orders violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and strip individuals of their Second Amendment rights without due process,” said Luis Valdes, southeast regional director for the group.
“As a former law enforcement officer, I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, including due process — something these orders undermine. If someone truly poses a danger, they should be lawfully detained or placed in a mental health facility, not left free while their rights are selectively removed. The failures leading up to the Parkland tragedy make that clear.”
Historically, law enforcement officials in Florida have supported the law.
However, when asked about the repeal proposal filed in the House, a representative of the Florida Sheriffs Association did not comment. The Phoenix also reached out to six individual sheriffs from some of the state’s largest counties. Representatives of two of those sheriffs declined to comment. Another said he hadn’t read the bill, while three never responded.
Senate resistance
Sirois’ bill has no Senate sponsor. And that’s just fine with Senate President Ben Albritton, who said on the first day of the session earlier this month that he’s not a supporter of repeal.
“I work closely with our sheriffs around the state and many of them are very good friends,” he said.
“What I believe is that those risk protection orders — which are not red-flag laws — but those risk-protection orders, I believe have run a very good chance of finding the next Nikolas Cruz [the gunman who carried out the Parkland school shooting]. So, I believe that they are worth sticking with. And they certainly have every opportunity to make our schools, our campuses, and Floridians all together safer.”
(Regarding Albritton’s distinction between a red-flag law and a risk-protection order, Katie Betta, a spokesperson for the Senate president, told the Phoenix in an email that Albritton, who voted for the 2018 law, “prefers to use the proper term, so that people don’t confuse our law … with other ‘red flag laws’ in other states that don’t have the same due process rights that we have, and which he would not support.”).
Twenty-two states have adopted risk-protection order laws, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. A GOP lawmaker filed legislation late last year in Michigan to repeal that state’s red-flag law. However, as the Michigan Advance reported, the bill has “a near-zero chance of passage” through the Democratic-controlled state Senate and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Although the Florida House has already passed legislation (HB 133) this session (for the fourth year in a row) to lower the age to purchase a long gun from 21 to 18, once again that measure appears dead on arrival in the Senate, with no companion bill yet to be filed.
Berman believes the same fate will meet this year’s legislation.
“In the past, the Senate has been the backstop on many of the bad bills that have come over from the House,” she said. “And we’re going to do it again this year, because you are all going to be there lobbying, making your voice heard.”
Rep. Sirois did not respond to requests for comment.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Deborah Coffey says
Apparently, today’s Republicans don’t understand and won’t tolerate ANY part of “NO!”
Not to election interference, not to banning books, not to women’s rights to their own healthcare, not to no tariffs, not to bullying numerous other countries, not to blowing up speed boats in the Caribbean, not to sending all of our money upward to the top 2%, not to deregulating businesses, not to controlling climate change, not to making our institutions stronger, not to firing tens of thousands of federal workers, not to stop killing people in our streets, not to allowing anybody and everybody to own guns…and, this is just a partial list belonging to the Fascists.
NO! NO! NO! They won’t be happy until they have taken over the entire country. So, let’s make them extremely unhappy and then march them to the prisons they deserve. That’s the responsibility of people in a democracy.