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Politics

Poll Shows Majority of Floridians Oppose Campus Carry

March 2, 2017 - 11:15am

The majority of Floridians don’t support allowing guns on college campuses and over half oppose open carry in the Sunshine State, according to a new poll.

The University of North Florida survey found 62 percent of Florida voters oppose legislation to allow concealed weapons on college campuses, with 48 percent strongly opposing the measure. 

A smaller percentage -- 34 percent -- said they support campus carry.

State Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, has sponsored legislation to allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry their firearms on college campuses in the Legislature this year. Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, is sponsoring the House bill to allow campus carry in Florida.

“If the legislature is paying attention to public opinion, this signals that House Bill 6005 might not make it to the governor’s desk for the second time in two years,” said Dr. Michael Binder,  faculty director of the UNF Public Opinion Research Laboratory.

Florida voters were also not too convinced they wanted open carry in the Sunshine State, either. The survey found over half -- 53 percent -- oppose allowing CCW permit holders to openly carry their handguns in Florida outside of police stations, prisons, courthouses, schools and places where alcohol is served.

Binder said that proposal, too, could be at odds with Florida voters’ opinions.

“In what could be another signal to Tallahassee about Senate Bill 140, voters aren’t supportive of bringing open carry laws to Florida,” Binder said. “While Floridians might not be open to expanding gun laws, they don’t support prohibiting the sale of assault weapons, which could signal that House Bill 167 isn’t going to get passed either.”

Pro-gun groups have strongly advocated for both of the proposals during this year’s legislative session.

NRA past president and lobbyist Marion Hammer told Sunshine State News that state lawmakers were in tune with the true wants and desires of Florida voters, which she said explains why the bills have had a better time passing through committees this year. 

“The overwhelming majority of Florida citizens support the constitutional right of self-defense,” said National Rifle Association past president and current lobbyist Marion Hammer. “That's what these issues are about. Legislators know that.”

Opponents, however, disagree and say the gun measures would be detrimental to Floridians, especially when it comes to campus carry.

“It is time for our lawmakers to listen to our concerns and ensure that our schools remain educational safe havens,” said Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense Florida chapter head Michelle Gajda. 

The survey of 973 Florida voters was conducted from Feb. 13-26 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.14 percentage points.

The 2017 legislative session begins Tuesday.

 

Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.

Comments

Another bogus poll. You Libturds are pathetic

The more years i read this SSN news takes, i sense SSN is liberal at heart, but loves conservative readers for profit. I'm about done with it.

Silly to be debating this or polling. 46 states allow Open Carry. Even much more liberal states than the poll contends. Debate over. 46 46 46 46 46 so liberals don't say it was a typo.

Everyone would do well to keep one thing in mind: DEMOCRATS ARE STINK!!!

To me, our Second Amendment rules over ALL views. Florida has "Concealed Carry", which is very widespread. As for OPEN CARRY... to me that is LEGAL, but should be applied with intentions, advanced firearms knowledge, and not used for purposes of intimidation! Should OPEN CARRY become law, it should and will NOT result in a "Wild West" change (in my opinion). I would continue to carry concealed, and PREFER that all citizens do the same. Open carry would seem to be a bit threatening, and worthy of close observation. Being a Constitutional Conservative, I do favor the law as it is already applied in Texas -- it does not seem to have materially affected either criminal behavior or fatality statistic. The issue about "Campus Carry" should be applied with thorough understanding and obvious intentions - PERSONAL PROTECTION -- and (hopefully) sound judgement.

The polls seem to agree with popular opinions which are for NOT carrying guns on campuses. Yesterday a kid brought a gun to school(Seminole State) with intentions to shoot himself. A very alert instructor noticed the student's behavior and walked up to him and after talking, gave him a hug. During the hug, the instructor felt the gun between them and was able to convince the student that suicide wasn't the correct answer and was able to take the gun and secure it. My question; why take the gun to school, unless intentions were more than just suicide. Guns do NOT belong on any campus in my opinion.

And a no- carry on campus law would have definitely stopped this from happening.

So in other words the current laws against campus carry did nothing to prevent that student from bringing a gun to school. This is what never seems to get explained to people, folks like the ones who answered that poll. Establishing gun free zones without also implementing TSA level security does nothing to prevent criminals or mass murderers from waltzing onto campus and opening fire. All those zones do is to disarm people who are properly vetted and licensed to carry concealed firearms anywhere else in public. Exactly the sort of people you'd want armed in case of an attack.

Personally, I believe the poll. So does my friend Big Foot and my cousin Elvis. They told me so yesterday. POLS: remember we are over 1.3 million CCW VOTERS and so are our families.

This polls surveyed more women than men and more Democrats than Republicans. Demographically, I wouldn't expect that the results would have turned out any different than they did. Academia and the press love trying to wag the dog. The fact is that non-gun folks (those typically not for or against) hear things like "guns at colleges" and immediately envision drunken 18 year old frat boys blasting shotguns around the frat house. The fact is that allowing firearms on campus still means that (1) the person has to have a concealed weapons license -- meaning they received training and had to undergo a background check, (2) they are at least 21 years old, (3) must legally own the firearm, and (4) have to obey all other laws concerning the possession and carrying of the firearm. Don't picture the drunk frat boys... instead picture the 23 year old female grad student trying to walk to her car late at night or the 60 year old professor working late hours or the 50 year old father dropping off his kids at school or the 21 year old coed being sexually assaulted in her dorm room or the 22 year old gay man or 21 year old black woman who is being assaulted in a hate crime. If you are falling victim to the propaganda of the anti-gun media, you're not being a free-thinking individual. These are people who are carrying guns around you every day and doing so in a responsible manner... why do their rights end at the border of their college campus? This type of thing is legal in a majority of the states in the country... and there are no bloodbaths going on. There are no mass killings being perpetrated by legally licensed concealed carry holders every day on these campuses. But there are assault and rapes and armed robberies EVERY SINGLE DAY that are committed by thugs against good, unarmed people -- people who are defenseless because someone somewhere in the comfort of their office or under the watchful eye of armed security officers decided that they know what's best for them and that that doesn't include the right to self-defense. Think with your brain, not your heart because your heart is more suscepible to being manipulated by those with an agenda.

Thank you for a thorough, intelligent posting. We appreciate it. Our friends in Tallahassee must not cave-in to this phony BS. Polls funded by Bloomberg and the likes mean absolutely nothing

Dear poorly educated, please tell this to the families of the 26 people killed in a School in Newtown, CT. If we don't learn from Sandy Hook, we won't learn from anything. As a mother and a Conservative, I don't want guns at school, unless they come with the matching police officer.

Obviously this person is exactly the type of person who I was talking about when I said "not thinking with your head". (1) The gun was stolen (ie, illegally possessed) from the shooter's mother. (2) He was already a murderer (killed said mother) by the time he took the gun to the school... pretty sure that a person willing to murder his own mother wouldn't have turned around at the sight of a "NO GUNS ALLOWED" sign on the school property. (3) Connecticut has an "assault weapons ban" in place and has had one since the Federal ban was put in place back in 1994. (4) The school was already a "gun free zone". ------ Again, this was not perpetrated by a legally licensed person carrying a legally possessed firearm. NOTHING THAT ANY OF THESE GUN LAWS do would have ANYTHING to do with preventing that piece of garbage from doing what he did. Maybe, just maybe, if someone had a pistol, that person could have put this MURDER down before all those children were gunned down... murdered while cowering in fear with no way to protect themselves other than to just hope they weren't found hiding in some corner. You want more laws to prevent this type of thing? Maybe make murder illegal. Because we all know that murders obey the law. Oh wait... hmmmmm.... Either way, don't use the tragic death of these poor children at the hands of this pile of human filth to push your agenda.

Dear condescending narrow-minded bigot: Please tell us how the laws prohibiting licensed persons from carrying on school property prevented those things from happening. We'll wait..... *crickets chirping*

Need I remind you that Newtown was a gun free zone? You please explain to the families of the 26 dead just why having their loved ones cower in fear while there was no one there to offer resistance to the shooter was any sort of good idea. Children are out most precious resource. They deserve credible protection whether from campus police or from other armed adults in a position to immediately respond to an attack.

If you were the intellect you really believe you are, you would know that Newtown was committed by a mentally deranged criminal who had just murdered his mother. Your comparison shows your ignorance. 1.3 million concealed carry permit holders are around you every day and you notice nothing. Let us hope one of them is present the next time a criminal attempts to do harm.

yea and parents want college professors to make communists out of their kids (which is what the goal of educators has been becoming) Open carry is the way to go

Perhaps you have not been to "hilly billie University," oh I'm sorry I meant USF and U of F. These rednecks are hardly communist.

Their administrations and faculty are.

Soooooo true!

In the case of both of these bills, ONLY trained, 21+yearold, CCW Holders, fully vetted and background checked people would be permitted to carry on campus and or open. Their choice! These are the same individuals that currently have the choice in public now. How many poll takers understand this versus assume that any and all would be allowed?

I agree 100%. But, you forgot military, veterans and retired police.

I call BS on anything that comes out of UNF

UNF has a stellar program and a Former REPUBLICAN Mayor as their President. You would know this if only you'd gotten your GED...

BLOOMBERG was the "republican" mayor of NYC for 12 years! I guess with all your "academic achievements" you missed that one.

give it to the voters to decide...

Voters can't countermand a fundamental enumerated right.

I fully support open carry and on campus carry! Fake polls abound!

I'm sure the only polls you believe come from Breibart, FauxNews, and WhiteAmericaUsa.org

They're the only polls one can trust.

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