This bill amends Florida law to redefine "machine gun" to include firearms that automatically fire more than one shot without manual reloading and those modified to increase the rate of fire. It ranks offenses related to bump-fire stocks at level 5 on the offense severity ranking chart of the Criminal Punishment Code and reenacts several sections of Florida Statutes to ensure these changes are integrated into minimum sentencing and firearm definitions. Additionally, the bill imposes enhanced minimum sentences for individuals convicted of certain felonies who possess or use a semiautomatic firearm or machine gun, mandating a minimum of 15 years imprisonment for possession during a felony, with increased penalties for discharging such firearms that result in death or great bodily harm.

Moreover, the bill proposes amendments to sentencing guidelines, particularly multiplying sentence points for specific offenses based on the crime's nature and the offender's history. For example, offenders with three or more prior convictions for grand theft involving a motor vehicle will see their sentence points multiplied by 1.5. The bill also introduces a more severe penalty for adult-on-minor sex offenses, where the subtotal sentence points are multiplied by 2.0 if the offender is 18 or older and the victim is a minor, provided the offense occurred after October 1, 2014. If these multipliers result in a sentence exceeding the statutory maximum, the court must impose the maximum sentence instead. The act is set to take effect on July 1, 2025.

Statutes affected:
S 254 Filed: 790.001, 921.0022