BUZZ
Student says bill would make campuses less safe by creating ‘Wild West’ environment
A bill that recently passed the Florida House would allow professors and staff at public universities to carry concealed weapons on campus – the expansion of a security program already in place in k-12 schools across the state.
However, some faculty unions and student groups are speaking out against the “School Safety” bill, House Bill 757, with one saying it could create a dangerous “Wild West” situation on campuses, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
“We are the ones who will have to walk around campus every day wondering which staff member is armed and if a split-second decision will turn our hallways into the Wild West,” Florida A&M student De’jah Charles told the newspaper.
“This bill doesn’t make us safer. It makes our campus an unpredictable space where the threat of violence is always part of the curriculum,” Charles said. She is a member of the university Students Demand Action chapter, a gun control group.
The state House passed the bill last week in a 83-25 vote, and sent it to the Senate where it also appears likely to pass, according to the Democrat.
If enacted, the bill would expand Florida’s “Guardian Program” to public colleges and universities by allowing their presidents to designate faculty and staff to be trained to carry concealed firearms on campus and respond to emergency situations. It also instructs local sheriffs to provide firearms training to these individuals.
The sponsor, Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Crestview, told the Pensacola News Journal that she created the bill in response to the 2025 shooting at Florida State University:
Salzman was at Florida State University in Tallahassee on April 17, 2025, when 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner opened fire at the Student Union, killing two people and injuring six others.
As a student and a lawmaker in those terrifying moments, she said the experience left her looking for solutions to help make college students safer.
“I was sitting in my office when the shooting took place, and I was in group text messages with other students where they were sending videos of the assailant,” Salzman recalled. “They were saying, ‘Oh, I’m not on campus. I’m in this building. We’re on lockdown.’ And then afterwards they were like, ‘What are we going to do about it?’”
Salzman said she collaborated with state education leaders and other lawmakers for answers.
However, opposition to her proposal is coming from faculty unions and leftist student groups.
“From Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to Florida State University, our state has experienced unimaginable tragedy on school grounds,” a letter from Florida Students Demand Action states. Several university faculty unions and campus Democrat groups signed the letter.
“The answer is not to flood campuses with more guns. The answer is evidence-informed gun violence prevention. We are asking you to stand with students, educators and families who want safe learning environments, not armed teachers,” the letter states, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
Florida law prohibits any individual other than law enforcement from carrying a firearm, either open or concealed, on a college campus.
MORE: U. New Hampshire student-turned state lawmaker pushing for ‘campus carry’ law
