The only thing as 'Merican as Jesus riding a bald eagle eagle is a frat boy, preferably a quarterback, with a gun.
Which is, presumably, why a group of Florida lawmakers is poised to decide whether or not the House floor will hear a bill allowing concealed weapons during the March legislative session. On Tuesday, the House criminal justice subcommittee will hear H.B. 4005, a bill filed by Sarasota-area Rep. Greg Stuebe, who is obviously a Republican.
Florida is one of many states that has banned guns on college campuses. Ostensibly, the bill is about protecting students from shooters like the one that injured three on the Florida State University campus last year.
"It's important to ensure people can defend themselves," Stuebe told The Fort Myers News-Press.
At least one concerned group wants to convince lawmakers that this bill is a very, very bad idea.
“We're trying to reduce the risk here, not increase it,” said Andy Pelosi, president of the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus.
The group's reason for fighting the bill is multifaceted.
For one, they think allowing concealed weapons on campus would probably create more of the mayhem than it prevents. After all, Pelosi said, college-aged people are among the likeliest to consider suicide. Plus, there are issues like theft and the likelihood that a "good-guy-with-a-gun" doesn't have the tactical training to deal with a shooter that a law enforcement official does.
“We're not arguing that there will be blood in the streets, we're arguing that it's going to create an unsafe environment,” Pelosi said. “From a crime standpoint we think that the other side doesn't have a leg to stand on."
There's also the matter of accidental discharges, especially when you factor in drugs and alcohol that, as lawmakers may or may not know, has been consumed on at least one college campus.
A similar bill was introduced in 2011, but the effort was thwarted thanks to the efforts of the father of a young woman who was killed on the FSU campus during a party when a gun went off and shot her in the chest.
It's unclear whether or not the bill will have enough traction to make it out of committee, let alone pass. If it does pass, Florida would be one of nine states that partially or fully allows guns on college campuses.
The illustrious company in which we would be? Colorado, Utah and Idaho (which have no restrictions on who can carry on campus) and Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Oregon and Wisconsin allow guns, though there are restrictions on who can carry.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2015.
