More Florida school personnel will be eligible to carry guns on campus, under a bill Gov. Ron DeSantis signed on Wednesday. Two Panhandle school districts are moving in other directions.
“I said I was for the bill from the beginning; I urged the Legislature to pass it in my State of the State [Address], “said DeSantis. “Once the session ended people asked me, ‘are you going to sign it?’ Yes. ‘Are you going to sign it?’ Yes.”
Senate Bill 7030 is voluntary, and expands the Guardian program to allow qualified, non-teaching school employees to arm themselves. Most of the recommendations from the special commission set up after Parkland take effect immediately, while expansion of Guardian kicks in Oct. 1.
“You had experts from around the state; they looked at school security very seriously. They identified problems, they proposed solutions,” said the Governor. “The characterization of it as an armed teacher bill is, quite frankly, spin.”
Democrats spent hours arguing against the bill, saying it could lead to accidental shootings, or that a teacher could panic and fire during a confrontation with students.