FL lawmakers increase sanctions on minors possessing guns; 1st time offenders wouldn’t get a felony
Pistols on the shelf at Caso’s Gun-A-Rama store on March 25, 2021, in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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Florida lawmakers say they want minors to pay a price for illegally possessing a firearm, and that’s why they passed a bill this week to increase sanctions: First-time offenders carrying a gun would be held in a detention facility for up to five days and serve 100 hours of community service or paid work — though they wouldn’t be charged with a felony.
They’d be charged with a third-degree misdemeanor instead.
A second-time offender would be charged with a third-degree felony and would spend 21 days in a detention facility. He or she would be required to serve between 100 to 250 hours of community service or paid work determined by the Department of Juvenile Justice.
A third-time offender would be “adjudicated delinquent” and committed to a juvenile residential program.
The majority of House Democrats opposed the bill.
The legislation had originally called for minors caught with a gun to be charged with a third-degree felony — a much more severe penalty.
“We don’t want teenagers carrying guns,“ said Sen. Darryl Rouson, of Tampa Bay, who told the Phoenix on Friday. “We don’t want teenagers thinking that if they carry one, they’ll be out in a few hours [after being arrested]. We want sanctions as if it were a felony but allow a pathway to those who are of a mind to be corrected and rehabilitated to experience that too, without the stigma of a felony.” Rouson had pushed for an amendment in the bill to ensure that first offenders would be for third-degree misdemeanors.
Rouson says that it’s important to hold minors accountable – without marking them with a felony that would follow them the rest of their lives.
“What if a 14-year-old gets arrested for possession and it’s a felony? Then the next time when he’s 15 and wants to apply for a job at Publix, he’ll have to answer that question: Have you ever been arrested for a felony? Well now he can answer it, ‘no’ if he’s of a mind to be corrected and learn the error of his ways.”
Pinellas County Republican Berny Jacques, sponsor of HB 1181, told the Phoenix on Friday that his motivation was to combat what he says is an excess of gun violence committed by teens in Florida.
A former prosecutor in Pinellas, Jacques said that he had spoken to some of his former colleagues in the prosecutor’s office, and they confirmed that they have been seeing more gun violence committed by juveniles. Though he did not provide specific data, Jacques said that after talking about the issue with some of his fellow lawmakers, he believes the problem is statewide.
He says that led to a work group involving Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Eric Hall “brainstorming” over ideas about minors and guns that ultimately made it into his bill. The Florida Sheriffs Association also was involved in crafting the legislation.
Jacques also was prompted to push the bill in the Legislature when news broke about a shooting on Christmas Eve in the Pinellas County city of Largo, where two teenage brothers fighting over Christmas presents led to a 14-year-old shooting and killing his 23-year-old sister. The boy’s 15-year-old brother then retaliated by shooting and wounding the 14-year-old.
The Senate approved the measure unanimously, 39-0. The House approved it 84-25.
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