Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking at the Vault in Tampa on May 20, 2025 (Photo by Mitch Perry/ Florida Phoenix)When Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended two Democratic state attorneys in recent years, he contended that both deserved to be removed because they were ignoring the law and not following their duties. But when asked on Tuesday in Tampa why he now supports his hand-picked attorney general saying that he wouldn’t defend the state law banning individuals 21 and under from purchasing a long gun, the governor called it a “different situation.”
DeSantis told a Phoenix reporter at a news conference in Tampa Tuesday morning that he stands behind Attorney General James Uthmeier’s decision to not fight the law if the case is accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“You have an obligation to support and defend the Constitution,” he said. “And there are times when you have to make judgments about that. Now, those state attorneys were basically saying that they didn’t want to enforce statutes that the Legislature had done. They made their arguments as to why, but ultimately, I didn’t find those arguments to be persuasive.”
Uthmeier stated in March that if the National Rifle Association decided to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit denying their claim that Florida’s 2018 law barring individuals under the age of 21 from buying a long gun is unconstitutional, his office would not defend the law in front of the nine justices in Washington D.C. That possibility now exists after the NRA announced on Friday that they would appeal the 11th Circuit’s ruling to the highest court in the land (the Supreme Court has not said if it will hear the case).
Uthmeier has not said anything publicly about the NRA lawsuit since the gun rights organization filed the appeal on Friday
DeSantis said Tuesday that he personally has always believed the law to be unconstitutional. That measure was passed just weeks after the mass shooting at Parkland on Feb. 14, 2018, that claimed the lives of 17 people. The governor said that “it was an emotional time” in describing why the GOP-controlled Legislature passed the law, which received bipartisan support and was signed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott. But he maintains that Uthmeier’s stance to not fight for the law in the U.S. Supreme Court is a “good faith position” because he doesn’t believe it’s consistent with the state Constitution.
“So that’s different than just saying that laws that have been passed you don’t like,” he added. “You can say that they’re unconstitutional, but that’s gotta be credible. It is credible. There’s a lot of people who have contested the constitutionality of suspending entirely someone’s right under an enumerated provision of the Constitution. I mean, I’m not just saying, ‘I have a right to this.’ There’s an enumerated provision. You’ve got people that are 18 years old that will be sent halfway around the world to carry a rifle in the Marine Corps. Then they finish that and they’re 20 and they can’t buy a rifle to go hunt? I think that’s a big problem.”
While the 11th Circuit has denied the NRA’s case, other federal courts have split on the issue of whether adults under 21 enjoy Second Amendment rights. The 3rd, 5th and 8th circuits have ruled that they do, while the 10th and 11th circuits have upheld laws banning firearm purchases by adults under 21.
When DeSantis suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren in August 2022, he said “State attorneys have a duty to prosecute crimes as defined in Florida law, not to pick and choose which laws to enforce based on his personal agenda.”
The Phoenix reached out to Andrew Warren for a response.
Andrew Warren, suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis, holds a news conference in Tallahassee on Aug. 17, 2022. Flanking him is his attorney, J Cabou. (Michael Moline/ Florida Phoenix)
“It’s clearly hypocritical,” he said in an email. “Asking him to explain himself is a complete waste of breath; they all lie with impunity.”
Warren was unsuccessful in his court battle to win his seat back, and ended up losing to Republican Suzy Lopez, the woman DeSantis appointed to replace him, last fall. The other state attorney the governor suspended, Orange/Osceola County State Attorney Monique Worrell did win her seat back last fall, defeating candidate Andrew Bain, whom the governor appointed to replace Worrell in 2023.
DeSantis has said that he also backs Uthmeier’s decision not to obey a federal court order requiring law enforcement agencies in Florida to halt immigration arrests under a new state law. That federal judge has said that Uthmeier needs to show cause why he should not be held in contempt or sanctioned for violating her order and will hold a hearing on the matter next week.
The Florida House of Representatives in March repealed the ban by supporting a measure that would lower the age for individuals in Florida to purchase shotguns and rifles from 21 to 18. It was the third year in a row they have done so, but none of those proposals ever reached DeSantis’ desk because the Florida Senate chose not to follow suit.
A gun safety advocate blasted the decision by DeSantis and Uthmeier to not stand up for the law banning individuals under 21 from being able to purchase a long gun.
“Florida’s law was passed in the wake of the devastating Parkland mass shooting, and it’s beyond doubt constitutional. (U.S.) Attorney General Pam Bondi and her successors defended this lifesaving law against the NRA’s attacks for years as Florida’s attorney general, and ultimately the 11th Circuit upheld it by a vote of 8 to 4, in a decision joined by both Republican and Democratic appointees,” said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation at Everytown Law. “It is absurd for Florida’s governor and new attorney general to try and claim otherwise, especially when research shows prohibiting 18-20 year-olds from purchasing firearms is a commonsense tool for preventing gun violence.”
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