By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The Florida Legislature has passed a measure (HB 757) allowing volunteer faculty and staff at colleges and universities to carry concealed sidearms in an effort to improve campus safety.
The Tallahassee Democrat is reporting the bill extends the state’s “Guardian program” to public college and university campuses. Under the program “trained staff and faculty” will be allowed to carry loaded guns on campus, essentially acting as first responders.
Florida lawmakers passed the bill 88-20 in the House and 26-10 in the Senate. The Tallahassee newspaper said the bill went to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it.
Under this legislation, Florida sheriffs will provide assistance by establishing guardian training programs or “contract with certain other sheriff’s offices to do so in certain circumstances.” According to Inside Higher Ed, “The program is voluntary and will require guardians to complete 144 hours of training, including 132 hours of firearm training and 12 hours of conflict de-escalation tactics, undergo psychological evaluation, and submit to random drug tests. Additionally, the bill prohibits shooting a gun within 1,000 feet of a school during operating hours or events, and requires universities to adopt specified emergency response plans and promote an app for reporting suspicious activity.”
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, a national grassroots gun rights organization, applauded passage of the legislation. In a statement Thursday, CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed, “We’ve tried so-called ‘gun-free zone’ campuses and it’s been a failure, as last year’s shooting spree at Florida State University clearly demonstrated. It’s time to think out of that restrictive box and try a different approach, which is to allow volunteers to train and fight back.”
Gottlieb was blunt about those who opposed the measure.
“We’re tired of hearing from anti-gun academics who say guns should be kept off campus,” he said. “Well, their arguments haven’t worked because criminals and crazy people don’t pay any attention to their gun-free utopian nonsense.”
Florida already has a similar program in place, adopted in the wake of the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Seventeen students and staff were gunned down on Valentine’s Day that year.
According to WMNF, the bill was sponsored by Sen. Dan Gaetz (R-Niceville) and Rep. Michele Salzman (R-Pensacola).
