TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – The Florida House approved the ARMOR Act late Wednesday, a bill that would expand the state’s school guardian program to universities following last year’s deadly shooting at Florida State University.
The legislation would allow university employees in the Guardian Program to carry guns on campus. Colleges would also be required to have a mobile reporting tool. The bill adds criminal charges for firing a gun near a school during the school day or after school activities.
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The Guardian Program was created after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.
Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Escambia County, said the bill targets what she described as a vulnerability on higher education campuses.
“Our impetus was our gun free zones,” Salzman said. “That was a huge problem knowing that people that are looking for the biggest bang for their buck or the biggest impact — negative impact — they’re going to where they know they’re not going to be stopped. And that is our higher education campuses.”
Salzman says the bill also is getting support in the Senate and from Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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