People should have the right to keep safe on campus, legislator says.
A Florida bill that is currently being considered in the state Senate this week may help college students to bring firearms on campus, according to the head sponsor, which is crucial in light of the harsh anti-Israel protests that have taken place across the country.
In a news release, state senator Randy Fine, R-Melbourne, said the bill would “extend concealed have rights to college and university schools.”
In a recent X post, he stated that” The Second Amendment does not take the semester off when you step on a college campus.”
According to the Republican senator, “adults should have the right to protect themselves on school, especially now that so many institutions across America choose to guard Muslim evil advocates over their own students,” in reference to the occasionally violent anti-Israel demonstrations that have taken place on university campuses over the past two years.
This bill will ensure that students have the same privileges on school as they do off, he said, adding that there is no special power industry that prevents criminals from carrying a firearm onto campus. When The Fix reached him, Fine’s company stated that he was not available for comment.
Senate Bill 814 may make it legal for people to” carry a rifle on the home of any college or university, including, but not limited to, any dorm or home house owned or operated by a college or university, and in any other place he or she is officially authorized to do so.”
Higher education organizations may question the state for permission to identify specific places as” a sensitive area where the hands of a concealed weapon or a concealed firearm is prohibited” during sport activities in the proposed legislation.
According to the Florida Senate site, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee is scheduled to take the costs up on Tuesday.
Some school Democrats are criticizing the regulations, though.
The University of Florida College Democrats, who were contacted about the invoice via social media, told The Fix that the organization is” firmly opposed to the act.”
The UF College Democrats claim that the active promotion of gun safety in classrooms is an affront to the remembrance of the Parkland shooting victims.
The student firm stated that it will be much sadder to network and serve events on school if we have to be concerned about the possibility of someone having a gun.
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The UF College Democrats told The Fix that the team believes that” the scholar system will become increasingly against a bill that makes school much more uncomfortable, and I expect our Student State to state this in a quality.”
The club told The Fix,” Carrying guns on campus will undoubtedly make campus more dangerous.” There are numerous occasions on campus where large crowds gather. Sometimes, students from other campuses attempt to be provocative or spread hateful views.
Anyone who is going to honestly tell you what campus is like will agree with our sentiment, the club said.” We don’t trust the idea of such outside groups being able to carry weapons onto campus and then pick fights with students. That sounds like a sure-fire recipe for disaster,” the club said.
The Fix reached several conservative student organizations at Florida’s public universities, as well as state and national conservative organizations that back the Second Amendment, but none of them responded to emails or social media requests for comment about the proposed campus carry laws and Fine’s bill.
According to a report published in Campus Safety Magazine, 11 states currently permit concealed carry on college and university campuses. Additionally, 21 leaves individual higher education institutions with the power to make gun policy decisions.
However, state-by-state laws also vary. For instance, if they are at least 21 and have a concealed carry permit, students in Texas are permitted to carry handguns on campus. However, this rule does not apply to private universities.
A conservative student group at Southern Methodist University is petitioning the private university to allow concealed carry on campus this spring, The Fix reported in February.
MORE: Kyle Rittenhouse speaks at UMemphis this time “without violent disruptions.”
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: A person tries to open a concealed handgun. Shutterstock/Maksym Dykha
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