Campus carry bill shifts to other security measures

A first-in-the-nation bill to devise a uniform anti-school shooter plan lost language Tuesday that would have allowed professors and teaching assistants to openly carry guns on public college and university campuses.

The new version of the bill, unanimously approved Tuesday morning by the House Judiciary Committee, no longer touches the hot-button issue of campus carry, unlike its Senate version still awaiting a committee hearing.

Instead, HB 757 addresses classroom door lock requirements, expands a statewide program of arming trained K-12 school staff into colleges and universities, and formulates active-shooter plans and threat-assessment models statewide.

“In the whole United States, there is not a single state that has a uniform response, a uniform requirement for mental health, or stress, or how to engage, or how to spot or see that his could be happening on campus at that moment,” said bill sponsor Rep. Michelle Salzman, an Escambia County Republican.

So, she continued, she worked for more than six months with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the state university system, first responders, teachers, and the Florida Sheriff’s Association to craft the 39-page bill.

It was inspired by the April shooting at Florida State University that left two dead and five wounded. Salzman, who was working to get her FSU master’s degree during the 2025 spring semester, described sitting in her Capitol office while messaging with fellow students trapped within classrooms.

“It was tough,” she said. But as a lawmaker and student, Salzman described feeling “uniquely” positioned to make a change.

State law now prohibits bringing guns on university campuses, whether openly or concealed.

One of the many jarring details that emerged in the aftermath of the attack was a near-fatal flaw: some of FSU’s classroom doors didn’t lock from the inside. This left terrified students and teachers, unaware that the shooter had already been neutralized by campus police, to use desks, chairs, and their own bodies to barricade the doors.

Salzman hopes her bill changes that.

“It requires public institutions to annually conduct security assessments. It will require institution to have locks on all instructional spaces and develop plans to address rooftop access,” she said.

Here’s are the other main provisions in HB 757:

• Makes it a second-degree felony to fire a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school.
• Expands the state’s guardian program to the university level, allowing vetted volunteers to concealed carry on campus.
• Promotes the use of a mobile suspicious activity reporting tool, like FortifyFL, to quickly alert law enforcement to dangerous circumstances.
• Requires a student’s threat assessment reports and psychological evaluations to be transferred from a K-12 school to their college or university upon enrollment.
• Mandates schools create family reunification plans, active assailant response plans, and threat-management teams.
• Requires schools to annually conduct security risk assessments.
• Increases training for faculty and staff to identify and respond to mental health problems.
• Further connects students with mental health services.

HB 757’s Senate companion still provides for campus carry, although it has yet to be scheduled for its first committee hearing. Its sponsor, Sen. Don Gaetz, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he would mirror Salzman’s bill in the upper chamber.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

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This article appears in Jan. 22 – 28, 2026.