Academic opponents to Florida campus carry bill speak out

BILL DAY NO GUNS ON CAMPUS

Opposition to Florida’s campus carry bill is growing on the state’s college campuses, says one spokesman for Sunshine State academia.

“Campuses are exponentially safer places than virtually any other public space, other than municipal and state buildings in which concealed weapons are strictly banned,” said John White, president of the University of North Florida chapter of the United Faculty of Florida.

“Moreover, mixing guns with controversial topics in class or with the alcohol, drugs, and impulsivity common to youth is a very dangerous proposition. If we are to give any credence to the gun lobby’s mantra that ‘guns aren’t the problem,’ we must also acknowledge that guns aren’t the solution,” White told FloridaPolitics.

White says he’s in touch with a regional representative from the advocacy group Keep Guns Off Campus, which is mobilizing against the bill on its website.

Two different bills that would expand gun rights on university property made it through committee votes on party lines last week.

“I don’t feel like your constitutional rights should stop at a line in the sand,” said Sen. Greg Evers, a Baker Republican, who is sponsoring the Senate bill.

The campus concealed carry bill and another “open carry” proposal backed by the National Rifle Association were the first two measures passed by any legislative committee in preparation for the 2016 session that gets underway in January.

Advocates of concealed carry on college and university campuses argue a permit holder packing heat could prevent a mass shooting or other violent crime (see, Virginia Tech).

However, the state’s university presidents, including staunch Republicans John Thrasher and John Delaney, are opposed to the measures HB 4001 and SB 68, along with police chiefs and the State University System’s Board of Governors.

Twenty states, including Florida, ban concealed weapons on college campuses.

Melissa Ross

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].



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