House Panel To Consider Guns On Campuses

January 15, 2015

A House panel is expected next week to take up a bill that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns on the campuses of state colleges and universities.

The bill (HB 4005), filed by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, is scheduled to be considered Tuesday by the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. Senate Criminal Justice Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker, has filed an identical proposal (SB 176) in the Senate.

It comes after a shooting incident in November at Florida State University that left three people wounded and the gunman killed by police. Steube and other supporters have argued that allowing people to carry guns on campus could help prevent incidents such as the Florida State shooting.

But a similar bill failed in 2011, at least in part because of another shooting incident at the Tallahassee university. Ashley Cowie, 20, was at a campus party when a gun held by another student accidentally discharged, sending a bullet through her chest and killing her. The girl’s father lobbied against the 2011 bill, arguing that putting guns in an area where drugs and alcohol are commonly used would make campuses more dangerous.

Steube’s proposal will be the first bill taken up by the Criminal Justice Subcommittee as it prepares for the annual legislative session, which starts March 3.

by The News Service of Florida

Comments

4 Responses to “House Panel To Consider Guns On Campuses”

  1. 429SCJ on January 18th, 2015 7:34 am

    We are always seeking ways to protect ourselves from gun violence, but we never ask the question as to what is causing this gun violence?

    It is politically correct to say that guns are killing people, but incorrect to ask why.

    We did not have this problem in 1976, why do we have it now? Why is this the forbidden question? At some point a catalyst was introduced to our society, a catalyst that made people become more violent. What was that catalyst? How can we remove that catalyst and correct this condition? Those are the questions we need to be asking!

  2. mick on January 15th, 2015 3:24 pm

    The criminals already have guns, and it would be shocking to know just how many people are carrying concealed weapons permitted or otherwise. The old saying ” better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it” sadly rings true… fact is, is that LEO can’t be everywhere they are needed on a daily basis when scumbag ,lowlife criminals prey on the innocent – bottom line is that it is a sign of the times with no respect for life or law , and people everywhere need to be able to protect themselves at all times with whatever means necessary…I would rather put a bullet in the threat, than to house, feed, and clothe it for x number of years…signs of the times…

  3. Just listening on January 15th, 2015 8:59 am

    Hummmmm
    “an area where drugs and alcohol are commonly used would make campuses more dangerous”

    vs”

    Protection!

    Makers you wonder what we send kids to school for! just to Party? just saying

  4. Tom on January 15th, 2015 3:42 am

    These are sad times we live in and stuff like this really nags at my conscious. I can not find any such law on the books in any other democratic country in the world with such a law as this. What makes us the exception?