A bill to allow concealed firearms on college campuses is likely headed to the legislative graveyard for a second year in a row, much to the chagrin of gun rights supporters in the Sunshine State.
The bill was killed in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Committee Chairman Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, said it wasn’t likely the committee would take up the bill.
“As each day goes by, there’s less of a probability,” Diaz de la Portilla said. “I don’t think we’ll be hearing campus carry this session.”
If the bill’s death sounds like déjà vu, it’s because the same proposal was effectively killed off in the committee in a similar fashion during last year’s legislative session.
The bill, SB 68/HB 4001, would allow those with a state-issued concealed weapons permit to carry their firearms on Florida’s 40 public college campuses. Florida law currently bans carrying firearms on state university grounds.
Concealed carry permit holders aged 21 and older would be able to carry their guns on campus if the bill passed.
The bill’s sponsors, Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, and Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota said public safety is the first and foremost reason the bill should be made law in Florida. Evers and supporters of the bill say it would help gun holders defend themselves against attackers on college campuses, especially protecting young women from sexual predators.
The National Rifle Association was a strong backer of the proposal, with representatives appearing at every committee meeting to discuss why the bill needed to pass. Some student groups, like Students for Concealed Carry, have actively supported the legislation, saying it allowed students to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Opponents of campus carry disagreed, saying the bill was a risky move by putting guns in an already high-stress environment.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., appeared at the Florida Capitol Thursday to voice her disapproval of the measure.
“It's really troubling and disturbing to me to think they could be on a college campus where another student may decide to solve a problem with a gun,” she said.
Last month, Wasserman Schultz and other congressional Democrats penned a letter to Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, pleading with the two lawmakers to end the campus carry legislation.
The group of 10 congressional representatives asked the two top-tier legislators to put a stop to the proposed legislation.
“We agree that campus violence is a serious problem. Sadly, there have been at least 23 shootings on college campuses just in 2015,” the letter reads. “Increasing the number of guns on college campuses is simply not the answer.”
“Florida’s colleges should be safe for our students, not remakes of the Wild West,” said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla. “The state Legislature should take seriously the concerns of university administrators, police, parents, and students and stop these reckless bills.”
Gun rights groups haven’t given up the ghost on campus carry, however. NRA past president and lobbyist Marion Hammer has said the legislation will be brought back in 2017 if it fails to pass through the legislature this year.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
