JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville man is now at the center of National Rifle Association lawsuit, which challenges a Florida law that restricts gun sales after the Parkland school shooting.
The complaint, filed in federal district court Tuesday, challenges the law, which raised the age to purchase rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21.
The law was signed by former Gov. Rick Scott in March 2018 after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Seventeen students and faculty members died.
The minimum age to legally buy a gun in the Sunshine State is a hot button issue that’s been debated for years.
The NRA’s suit was first filed in 2018, but went cold as the two plaintiffs, a young man and woman between 18 and 21, were anonymous. The defendants are listed as Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Chairman Rick Swearingen.
The challenge reignited in court Tuesday as the National Rifle Association refiled the lawsuit naming Radford Fant as a plaintiff. Attorneys for the NRA and Fant claim Florida’s law requiring someone to be 21 to buy a gun is unconstitutional.
Fant is the son of former State Rep. Jay Fant, a Republican who represented the 15th district from 2014 to 2018.
Before the law changed in Florida in March 2018, someone between the ages of 18 and 21 was not allowed to buy a handgun, but they could purchase a long gun, in other words, a rifle or a shotgun.
“At 18 years of age, law-abiding citizens in this country are considered adults for almost all purposes and certainly for the purposes of the exercise of fundamental constitutional rights,” the NRA’s lawyers wrote. “At 18, citizens are eligible to serve in the military --- to fight and die by arms for the country.”
Those in support of the older age requirement pointed out that accused Parkland killer Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time, legally bought his AR-15-style rifle used in the attack.
Also on Tuesday, lawyers for Attorney General Ashley Moody, whose office is representing the state, and the NRA filed a joint scheduling motion, proposing deadlines in the lawsuit that, if agreed to by the judge, could lead to a trial next summer.
“Getting the primary case moving so the constitutional rights of Florida's young adults can be restored is a top priority with NRA,” Marion Hammer, the group’s Florida lobbyist and former national president, wrote in an email Wednesday morning.
“An AK-47 and an AR-15 in the hands of an 18-year-old is completely unreasonable,” said Ben Frazier, a community activist who runs the Northside Coalition.
Frazier, who frequently speaks out about gun violence in Jacksonville, said the law was a step in the right direction toward reducing shootings.
“Twenty-one is a great change,” he said. “We need to live with it. We need to move with it and keep it going.”
But the lawsuit claims Fant, “a law-abiding, responsible citizen between the ages of 18 and 21” is being disenfranchised, just like others in that age group.
“The law was basically just slipped in overnight,” said Ziadeh Farhat, the sales manager for Green Acres Sporting Goods on Jacksonville’s westside.
He said he has issues with the age requirement.
“They’re legally an adult,” Farhat said. “They can vote. They can go be in the military. Fight and die for this country. But they can’t defend their family if they’re under 21.”
Farhat estimated a 30% drop in business after the law went into effect. He said military members between 18 and 21 were still able to purchase guns under the law.
He added that others who want to buy guns are driving to Georgia, where the minimum age is 18.
Fant couldn’t be reached for comment at his Avondale home. No phone number was publicly listed for him. News4Jax reached out to his father, former State Rep. Jay Fant, but he did not answer two calls to his last known phone number.
Marc Nardone, a Washington D.C.-based attorney representing the plaintiffs, told News4Jax he “did not have time to talk” about the lawsuit.
This suit is seeking an unknown amount of money from the state for Fant’s damages.
Senate President Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who played a key role in passing the legislation after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, defended the law.
"I continue to stand by this important legislation,” he said.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker decided last year that previous court rulings forced him to reject the request to keep the plaintiffs anonymous. The NRA asked the Atlanta-based appeals court to overturn Walker’s ruling on the anonymity issue. But it decided to dismiss the appeal last week, a request that was approved Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Walker issued an order lifting a stay in the underlying case, putting it back in motion.