A bill that would allow those licensed to carry concealed firearms to do so on the grounds of institutions of higher learning is moving quickly through the Florida House of Representatives, faster than a speeding…car?
On Wednesday morning, reports the News Service of Florida's Jim Turner, the House's Higher Education & Workforce Subcommittee voted 10-3 to…continue the bill's rapid forward trajectory.
A Democrat from Tallahassee, Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, joined her Republican colleagues in backing the measure, which could get taken up on the House floor during the 2015 legislative session slated to start in January.
The rationale is that people are carrying guns on college campuses illegally anyway, and that letting Florida's 1.45 million concealed carriers pack heat within the halls of academia would protect campuses against the bad guys.
Obviously, there are critics of the bill, namely university system officials and gun control advocates, who say the bill would likely cause havoc rather than prevent it, given that 1) college students, especially when under the influence of certain substances, are less prone to making good decisions, and 2) if police arrive on the scene where there's an active shooter they may not know which guy (or gal) with a gun is the good guy (or gal) with a gun, and tragedy could ensue.
Some campus-carry critics estimate that it'll cost universities and colleges some $74 million to beef up security and training, given how many more people may be walking around campus with guns.
Pro-campus-carry people, of course, dispute that.
"If we allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms on our campuses, suddenly we're going to need armed security and police that we don't have now, where there is nothing keeping criminals off of our campuses with guns?" said Eric Friday of the gun-rights group Florida Carry Inc., according to News Service of Florida. "If you believe criminals don't have guns on campus now, you're naive."
The seemingly easy time the bill is having in the House might not be mirrored in the Senate, writes Turner:
Senate Judiciary Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, said Tuesday no decision has been made about whether to bring up the campus-carry bill, adding the measure won't be on the agenda for the committee's next meeting.
A similar measure died during the 2015 session after not getting through the Judiciary Committee. In the spring, Diaz de la Portilla said he decided to scuttle the measure after polling members of the Senate and finding a lack of support for the bill backed by gun-rights groups.
So, that chamber could act as (we've held out on the cheesy gun metaphors for long enough, damn it; please just let us have this one) a backstop, if you will, against the measure.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2015.