The fate of a bill to allow guns on college campuses faces an uncertain future after it was removed from the Senate Judiciary Committees meeting agenda this week. Gun rights groups have speculated the bills removal came at the hands of Senate President Andy Gardiner, who can ultimately decide whether a bill dies or lives to see another day in the Florida Legislature.
SB 176, sponsored by Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, has shaped up to be one of the most controversial bills in this years legislative session. The legislation would allow those 21 and older with concealed carry permits to have their weapons on public college and university campuses.
A recent poll posted on Sunshine State News found 78 percent were in favor of allowingindividuals to carry concealed weapons on Florida's college campuses.
Some of the strongest opponents of the legislation have been university police departments and college students, all of whom have been at every committee meeting to testify against campus carry.
The bill was supposed to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, but was seemingly absent from the agenda, raising fears the bill could be dead.
One Florida gun rights group, Florida Carry, says it knows exactly why the legislation was pulled from the meeting agenda.
Executive Director Sean Caranna told Sunshine State News an incredibly reliable source from inside the Capitol said President Gardiner was directly responsible for the move.
The source told Florida Carry that Gardiner ordered the bill be removed from the committee agenda and told Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, not to put it back on. Diaz de la Portilla was still unavailable at presstime.
SB 176s companion bill, HB 4005, has already weaved its way through the necessary committees to be heard in the House. But if the bill doesnt get heard and passed through the necessary Senate committees, it wont make it to the Senate floor. It wont be voted on.
Poof. Kaput. No campus carry.
This is intolerable, unacceptable, and completely reprehensible, read an email from Florida Carry.
After receiving many comments from angry supporters of campus carry, Gardiner broke the silence on Facebook, denying any involvement in the removal of the bill from the committee agenda.
Throughout my 14 years of serving in the Florida Legislature, I have been a strong defender of our Second Amendment rights and have consistently earned straight 'A' ratings from the NRA, he wrote. Despite what you may have read, it is the senators who chair our committees who make the final decisions on what bills receive a hearing. I have not blocked any legislation from receiving a hearing in committee or on the Senate floor.
Gardiners denial would put the fate of the bill squarely in Sen. Diaz de la Portillas hands. His legislative assistant, Patricia Gosney, told SSN she wasnt sure how the Miami Republican decides what makes or doesnt make the committee agenda.
I dont know what goes on into the thought process, she said.
As the legislative session comes close to an end, its a time crunch for SB 176 if it wants to see the light of day on the Senate floor.
The committees are winding down, she explained, adding there was a possibility the Judiciary Committee wouldnt be meeting again at all.
Butpast president of the National Rifle Association and Executive Director of Unified Sportsmen of Florida Marion Hammer says President Gardiner could call the shots on what legislation makes or doesn't make the Senate floor.
"One thing is for certain: [Gardiner] is the [Senate] President. He does control the process," she said. "If he wants that bill and supports it, as he has told us he does, then he certainly can get it put on the agenda and get it to the floor."
Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen by email atallison@sunshinestatenews.comor follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen
