Florida bill would allow college staff to carry guns

When Andres Cubillos is on FSU’s campus, he always scouts for his nearest exit or where he could hide if someone pulled out a gun.

The graduate student at Florida State University said students are “constantly aware” of the threat of gun violence –– and more so at his Tallahassee campus where a 20-year-old opened fire last April, killing two people.

“You can’t walk by our student union anymore without thinking about it,” said Cubillos, a volunteer with Students Demand Action, a national organization that advocates for stricter gun laws.

The shooting at FSU prompted some Republican state legislators this year to push for a law that would allow professors and other employees, but not students, to carry weapons on campuses if they are trained “guardians.”. They view armed guardians as a way to increase safety at Florida’s colleges and universities.

But opponents of the bill –– both in the Legislature and on university campuses –– argue adding more guns to campuses would make emergencies more volatile and cause unnecessary anxiety for students and staff.

Cubillos, who had friends in the student union last year when the gunman opened fire inside and outside the building, is among them. More guns could turn campuses into the “wild west,” he said.

“I can’t imagine anybody feeling safer in that kind of situation,” he said.

Rep. Michelle Salzman, a Republican from Escambia County and the sponsor of the legislation in the Florida House, was a graduate student at FSU at the time of the shooting, though not on campus that day. She said the proposal is “built on the lessons learned” and would enhance safety.

“While law enforcement responded quickly, that incident exposed gaps in communication, coordination, preparedness and protection particularly in our post-secondary institutions,” she said.

A police officer shot and incapacitated the FSU shooter about three minutes after the young man started shooting. The gunman wounded five people in addition to killing two others.

“Members, we were all here that day a year ago either in our committee rooms or in our offices,” Salzman said. “We all saw the news, we all saw the alerts. It was a scary time,” she added, urging her legislative colleagues to make colleges a “safer place.”

The House passed its version of the bill (HB 757) in late February, mostly along party lines with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. Its fate in the Senate is uncertain, however, as the Legislature is in the final week of its session.

The bill is an expansion of the K-12 guardian program created after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 that left 17 people dead. That program allows trained school staff to carry guns on campuses. Many local school districts have opted to put police officers on school grounds instead, however, given they get more intensive training. But 53 counties currently have schools participating in the K-12 program.

Participation in the new initiative would be optional for Florida’s 12 public universities and 28 public colleges. A school’s president would appoint guardians.

As with the K-12 program, college guardians would complete a 144-hour training, including 132 hours of firearm training and 12 hours of conflict de-escalation tactics. They would also undergo a psychological evaluation and random drug tests.

Jocelys Isaac, a sophomore at the University of Central Florida, said the program likely would make her feel safer on campus, though she also wasn’t sure it was needed.

“It wouldn’t impact our day-to-day life unless it’s an emergency,” Isaac said.

In the Legislature, much of the debate on the bill focused on whether the program would place a burden on the state’s educators.

“I think most people who love students and love young people would have a very hard time shooting a young person,” said Scott Perry, the vice president of the faculty senate at the University of South Florida.

He said professors who have dedicated their lives to taking care of young people wouldn’t be eager to sign up for the program.

“Just the idea that I would shoot a 20-year-old…” Perry said in reference to the gunman at FSU.

Other opponents called the program redundant given that universities already have on-campus police departments and said armed professors wouldn’t make campuses safer.

“Security isn’t just walking around with a gun or having a gun while teaching a classroom,” said Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland, who was the city’s mayor at the time of the 2018 massacre. “Security is paying attention to all the things that are going on on-campus.”

Robert Cassanello, the president of Florida’s faculty union, said most professors don’t want the legislation. Mass shootings already create “confusion and crisis on campus” and the proposal would worsen that, he said.

“Adding guns is like adding gasoline to a fire,” said Cassanello, who is also an associate professor of history at UCF.

UCF student Destin Crews agreed. The guardians’ guns could be misplaced or stolen, adding to students’ anxiety that someone on campus has a weapon, she said.

“How many kids went into their daddy’s locker and stole their gun and then went to school with that?” she added.

The bill also prohibits anyone from shooting a gun within 1,000 feet of a school during operating hours or during school events. And it would require universities to promote an app for reporting suspicious activity and to adopt specified emergency response plans.