Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Friday that allows public colleges and universities to establish guardian programs, in which trained members of the faculty and staff carry firearms to deter campus shootings.
He described the new law (House Bill 757) as a continuation of Florida's school safety efforts after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. It also follows a mass shooting at Florida State University last year.
"This bill expands the school guardian program to public postsecondary institutions and requires sheriffs to assist in the implementation of the program," DeSantis said during a bill signing event at Miami Dade College. "It's going to make our state colleges safer than they already are."
The Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program is already in most of Florida K-though-12 districts. State Board of Education Chair Ryan Petty, who lost his daughter Alaina at Parkland, celebrated the expansion to post-secondary education.
"And I know that, should the unthinkable happen, lives will be saved because of this legislation," Petty said.
He said the guardian program is the "cornerstone" of Florida's school safety measures. Having an armed presence on campus is vital, Petty said, and also serves as a deterrent.
Opponents of the legislation, like State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, have raised concerns about bringing more guns onto campuses and creating confusion for police during emergencies.
"Allowing guns onto these college campuses, even if it is for guardians and faculty and staff," Smith said during a telephone interview, "can create a lot of confusion when law enforcement shows up to respond to an active shooter situation and they don't know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are."
And Smith said he's concerned about what he calls "the big picture."
Time and time again, he said, "the Florida legislature engages in this sort of incrementalism, where today it's armed faculty and staff, tomorrow it will be students who will be able to secretly carry guns on college campuses, and we will have a full-blown open carry scenario at our universities, where our young people have been sent to get an education, and I think that's dangerous."
The new law makes several other safety-related changes, as well.
The law requires high schools to pass along specific records, including threat assessments, tied to student behavior.
It also becomes a second-degree felony to discharge a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school during hours of operation or school activity.
Public post-secondary institutions without a public safety reporting app will have to use the reporting tool FortifyFL.
They also must "develop active assailant response plans, threat management teams to identify and address potential safety risks, and family reunification procedures in the event of an emergency," according to a news release from the Governor's Office.
