A measure in the Florida legislature that would allow college and university professors and staff who volunteer to carry concealed sidearms on campus has been overwhelmingly approved by the state House of Representatives.
Earlier, the Florida Senate passed HB 757 by a 26-to-10 margin. And recently, the House approved the measure by a vote of 88 to 20.
Florida law already stipulates that sheriffs assist district school boards and charter school governing boards in accessing guardian programs and in instituting them. The new bill extends that stipulation to include post-secondary institutions.
“A sheriff must also assist public postsecondary educational institutions, as described in s. 1000.04(3), in implementing a guardian program under s. 1006.601,” the measure states.
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) called passage of the legislation a “much needed step toward improving campus security.”
“This legislation expands the state’s Guardian Program to colleges and universities, and that’s a good thing,” Gottlieb said in a news release announcing passage of the measure. “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.”
As Gottlieb explained, “For years, we’ve watched the hand-wringing and head-shaking over attacks on college campuses, with the typical reaction from the gun prohibition lobby and anti-gun lawmakers to call for more restrictions on private gun ownership.
“All that accomplished was to fool the public into believing some action had been taken while the body counts climbed,” he said. “It is clearly time for a more aggressive strategy, which will enable trained faculty and staff—who are strictly volunteers—to provide another layer of security and safety. We’re tired of hearing from anti-gun academics who say guns should be kept off campus. Well, their arguments haven’t worked because criminals and crazy people don’t pay any attention to their gun-free utopian nonsense.”
Ultimately, Gottlieb said it’s time to give those within Florida’s post-secondary institutions a “fighting chance” when it comes to protecting themselves from violent attackers.
“Let’s change course and give people at colleges and universities not just a fighting chance, but training and skills to intervene and stop tragedies,” Gottlieb said. “We can no longer afford to entertain the anti-gun sympathies of head-in-the-sand ivory tower ideologues who are so afraid of firearms they’re willing to allow fellow staff and students to become victims in order to maintain their lofty notions of being above the fray. Colleges and universities are not immune from violent crime. Florida lawmakers recognize that, while the gun-free zone zealots don’t.”