Florida leaders want more guns on campus to protect students. What do you think?

News and views for thoughtful Floridians and other discerning Americans

Courtesy E.W. Scripps

In the wake of the horrific mass shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and nine wounded, Florida leaders have leaped into action to defend us from senseless gun violence on campuses.

Bills filed in both the Florida House and Senate would actually loosen a ban on the open carry of firearms on campus, allowing more guns.

You read that right.

More guns.

Here’s the summary of House Bill 757, titled “School Safety” that has just been filed for consideration in the 2026 legislative session that begins in January. It:

Authorizes public postsecondary institutions to participate in school guardian program; authorizes certain college or university employees, faculty members, and students to openly carry handgun or carry concealed weapon or concealed firearm into college or university facility …

It goes on from there, and I have provided a link to the full text of the summary below.

You will notice it refers to the “school guardian” program that Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to expand to college campuses. As Politico reports:

Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing to expand Florida’s campus “guardian” program permitting trained K-12 school employees to carry guns, as a new security measure at colleges and universities.

The GOP governor is recommending the state spend $6 million on the idea next year to potentially widen one of the more controversial school safety policies passed in the wake of the 2018 Parkland high school shooting. In addition to bolstering security at colleges with more armed guards, DeSantis is seeking millions to install new door locks at universities to address potential vulnerabilities exposed by the shooting at Florida State University earlier this year.

More guns. But better locks. I’m sure everyone feels so much safer now.

No mention whatsoever of restricting the ownership or use of assault rifles, of course. In fact, DeSantis supports efforts to actually lower the age — from 21 to 18 — for someone to purchase a rifle in Florida.

That age restriction was put in place after the 2018 massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland where 14 students and three staff members were murdered and 17 others injured.

After the shooting, a natural rainbow appeared over the school, which has been adopted as a symbol for other mass shooting memorials, a sign of hope.

For instance, a rainbow became a central feature of the memorial in Orlando near the Pulse nightclub where two years before the Parkland shooting, 49 people were murdered.

A crosswalk was painted in the colors of the rainbow.

DeSantis sent Transportation Department workers to Orlando earlier this year to remove it.

It was too woke for the Free State of Florida.

For the record, as CNN reports:

So far in 2025, there have been at least 391 mass shootings and 13,929 shooting deaths in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Each number represents a shattered family, a traumatized community, another generation learning too early how to survive gunfire.

Related:

DeSantis wants Florida’s armed school guardian program in colleges, universities

Full text of School Safety summary

Another campus, another night of terror: Brown University shooting traps students in a familiar nightmare

Florida attorney general declares open carry of guns ‘law of the state’

Florida debates firearm policies

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J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida.

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