Florida Campuses Get Armed Guardians

0:00On March 19, Florida lawmakers have approved a bill that lets trained faculty and staff carry guns on public college and university campuses. The measure expands the state's school guardian program from K through 12 schools to higher education, aiming to stop or respond to active shooter. Situations. It passed the House 88-20 and the Senate 26-10 mostly along party lines. This push comes after the 2018 Parkland High School shooting and last year's incident at Florida State University where two people died and six were hurt. Governor Ron DeSantis backs the idea and proposed six million dollars in his budget to make it happen for colleges. Republicans led the charge with strong support while just a few Democrats joined in the House. Education leaders say it puts trained people on site to keep campuses safe. Officials expect DeSantis to sign it soon. To join, employees, not students, must finish a 144-hour training run by local sheriffs that cover shooting skills, shooter scenarios,

1:04legal rules and defense moves, plus side checks, drug tests, and yearly updates. Guardians can carry firearms but won't act as police or make arrests. The bill also pushes colleges to set up shooter response plans, threat teams, and more mental health help. It adds a felony for firing guns near schools during activities, except in self-defense cases. This could set a new standard for campus safety nationwide.