FL: Bill Filed for Campus Carry in Florida, Passes First Subcommittee 8-4

Bills have been filed in the Florida House (HB4005) and in the Senate (SB176) to reform the Florida concealed carry law to remove the restriction in the law that prevents people with concealed carry licenses to carry on Florida public colleges or Universities.   The bill passed the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee on an 8-4 vote with one representative not voting.  From myfloridahouse.gov, as shown in the screenshot above.

The opening statement of the bill seems a bit confusing, in that it 

A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to licenses to carry concealed weapons
3 or firearms; amending s. 790.06, F.S.; deleting a
4 provision prohibiting concealed carry licensees from
5 openly carrying a handgun or carrying a concealed
6 weapon or firearm into a college or university
7 facility; providing an effective date.

The bill does not appear to eliminate the provision banning the open carry of firearms.  Statute 790.06 (12)(a) still states:

(12)(a) A license issued under this section does not
15 authorize any person to openly carry a handgun or carry a
16 concealed weapon or firearm into:

It simply eliminates "Any college or university" from the list of places that people are not allowed to carry with the concealed carry license.

The bill seems to have some legs, in part due to the shooting at a Florida State campus where two students who had concealed carry permits were not able to effectively defend themselves against an active shooter.  Police eventually shot and killed the attacker.

An online poll carried out after the attack showed an astonishing 15 to
1 in favor of allowing people to carry guns on campus.

The bill has a considerable way to go through the Florida legislative process.  The next step appears to be the Higher Education & Workforce Subcommittee, then the Judiciary Committee.

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