Randy Fine files legislation to allow college students to carry guns on campus
Brevard County Republican state Sen. Randy Fine has filed legislation (SB 814) that would extend concealed carry rights to Florida colleges and universities.
The state lawmaker — now running for a seat in Congress — has said over the past year that such legislation is necessary to protect students from 'on-campus Muslim terror.'
The bill language says that a person 'may carry a firearm on the property of any college or university, including, but not limited to, any dormitory or residence hall owned or operated by a college or university, and in any other location he or she is legally authorized to do so.'
The measure also says that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) may authorize a college or university, while hosting or sponsoring a sporting event, to designate a campus facility or area as a sensitive location in which possession of a concealed weapon is prohibited. To receive such authorization, the school must submit a security plan to the FDLE for approval.
Fine says that he determined to file the bill after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, in light of the 'many universities around the country refusing to protect their students from on-campus Muslim terror.'
'The Second Amendment does not take the semester off when you step on a college campus,' Fine said in a statement. 'Adults should have the right to protect themselves on campus, particularly after so many universities across America chose to protect Muslim terror advocates over their own students. There is no magic force field that keeps criminals from carrying a gun onto campus; this bill will ensure that students have the same rights on campus as they do off.'
Similar legislation has been filed nearly every year by Florida Republicans over the past decade without success.
Twelve states do not force colleges and universities to allow concealed guns on campus, according to Everytown Research & Policy, a gun-safety group.
Due to laws such as Stand Your Ground, Florida has gained the reputation as being extremely gun-friendly, sometimes labeled 'the Gunshine State.'
But, in fact, the state does enforce more regulations on firearms than in many parts of the nation.
Take open carry: Florida is one of five states that do not allow the open carrying of guns, although that may change in this coming session. During his skirmish with GOP lawmakers over an illegal immigration bill, both Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis indicated support for open carry, with the governor saying it would 'be great to see it hit my desk.'
The leadership in the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature has resisted proposals in recent years to repeal parts of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act such as lowering the age to carry a firearm in Florida from 21 to 18 — Sen. Fine has filed legislation (SB 94) that would do that during the 2025 legislative session.
Fine is running in Florida's 6th Congressional District in a special election slated for April 1 against Democrat Josh Weil and three non-party affiliated or third-party candidates. The district leans conservative, and Fine has been endorsed by Donald Trump for the seat. He has already submitted his resignation from the Florida Senate effective March 31.
The district includes Palm Coast, stretches to just east of Gainesville, and includes portions of The Villages.
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Newsweek
6 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Exclusive: Trump Cuts to Hit Rural America Like 'a Tsunami,' Democrat Warns
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Critics, however, say public funding was a lifeline to communities that relied on their local NPR affiliates for news or PBS for free children's programming. "When you look at the community that really relies on trusted news, one of the last trusted bastions of news is local news," Delaney said. These cuts may have an impact on Amber Alerts and Emergency Broadcast System alerts, she said. Recent flooding in Western Maryland's Allegany County—a rural, conservative county inside Delaney's district—underscores the importance of having robust local radio news, she said. "We had floods in Allegany County, and luckily, because of the emergency alerts, they kept the kids in the school. They didn't release them early. And as the rising waters went, I think, nine feet in 45 minutes, the kids went from the first floor, the second floor to the third floor, luckily were rescued and no one was hurt," she said. 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USA Today
38 minutes ago
- USA Today
Men don't like how Trump treats the economy. Democrats must cash in on that.
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If the Democrats are clever, they'll consider this polling and begin brainstorming ways to further drive a wedge between Trump and male voters, particularly those in Gen Z. Yet I'm not sure Democrats are prepared to pick up the young voters Republicans are siphoning off. Their solution now seems to be doing nothing – Democratic leadership essentially disappeared after the 2024 election, and no one seems to know how to get the party back on track. Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, they need to focus on more than podcasts and memes. They need to be working on crafting a populist message and focusing on economic issues, because that seems to be the deciding factor in whether or not a president is doing well. Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
an hour ago
As ADA turns 35, groups fighting for disability rights could see funds slashed
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Nancy Jensen believes she'd still be living in an abusive group home if it wasn't shut down in 2004 with the help of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, which for decades has received federal money to look out for Americans with disabilities. But the flow of funding under the Trump administration is now in question, disability rights groups nationwide say, dampening their mood as Saturday marks the 35th anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act. Federal dollars pay for much of their work, including helping people who seek government-funded services and lawsuits now pushing Iowa and Texas toward better community services. Documents outlining President Donald Trump's budget proposals show they would zero out funds earmarked for three grants to disability rights centers and slash funding for a fourth. Congress' first discussion of them, by the Senate Appropriations Committee, is set for Thursday, but the centers fear losing more than 60% of their federal dollars. The threat of cuts comes as the groups expect more demand for help after Republicans' tax and budget law complicated Medicaid health coverage with a new work-reporting requirement. There's also the sting of the timing: this year is the 50th anniversary of another federal law that created the network of state groups to protect people with disabilities, and Trump's proposals represent the largest potential cuts in that half-century, advocates said. The groups are authorized to make unannounced visits to group homes and interview residents alone. 'You're going to have lots of people with disabilities lost,' said Jensen, now president of Colorado's advisory council for federal funding of efforts to protect people with mental illnesses. She worries people with disabilities will have 'no backstop' for fighting housing discrimination or seeking services at school or accommodations at work. The potential budget savings are a shaving of copper from each federal tax penny. The groups receive not quite $180 million a year — versus $1.8 trillion in discretionary spending. The president's Office of Management and Budget didn't respond to an email seeking a response to the disability rights groups' criticism. But in budget documents, the administration argued its proposals would give states needed flexibility. The U.S. Department of Education said earmarking funds for disability rights centers created an unnecessary administrative burden for states. Trump's top budget adviser, Russell Vought, told senators in a letter that a review of 2025 spending showed too much went to 'niche' groups outside government. 'We also considered, for each program, whether the governmental service provided could be provided better by State or local governments (if provided at all),' Vought wrote. Disability rights advocates doubt that state protection and advocacy groups — known as P&As — would see any dollar not specifically earmarked for them. They sue states, so the advocates don't want states deciding whether their work gets funded. The 1975 federal law setting up P&As declared them independent of the states, and newer laws reinforced that. 'We do need an independent system that can hold them and other wrongdoers accountable,' said Rocky Nichols, the Kansas center's executive director. Nichols' center has helped Matthew Hull for years with getting the state to cover services, and Hull hopes to find a job. He uses a wheelchair; a Medicaid-provided nurse helps him run errands. 'I need to be able to do that so I can keep my strength up,' he said, adding that activity preserves his health. Medicaid applicants often had a difficult time working through its rules even before the tax and budget law's recent changes, said Sean Jackson, Disability Rights Texas' executive director. With fewer dollars, he said, 'As cases are coming into us, we're going to have to take less cases.' The Texas group receives money from a legal aid foundation and other sources, but federal funds still are 68% of its dollars. The Kansas center and Disability Rights Iowa rely entirely on federal funds. 'For the majority it would probably be 85% or higher,' said Marlene Sallo, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, which represents P&As. The Trump administration's proposals suggest it wants to shut down P&As, said Steven Schwartz, who founded the Center for Public Representation, a Massachusetts-based organization that works with them on lawsuits. Federal funding meant a call in 2009 to Disability Rights Iowa launched an immediate investigation of a program employing men with developmental disabilities in a turkey processing plant. Authorities said they lived in a dangerous, bug-infested bunkhouse and were financially exploited. Without the dollars, executive director Catherine Johnson said, 'That's maybe not something we could have done.' The Kansas center's private interview in 2004 with one of Jensen's fellow residents eventually led to long federal prison sentences for the couple operating the Kaufman House, a home for people with mental illnesses about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Wichita. And it wasn't until Disability Rights Iowa filed a federal lawsuit in 2023 that the state agreed to draft a plan to provide community services for children with severe mental and behavioral needs. For 15 years, Schwartz's group and Disability Rights Texas have pursued a federal lawsuit alleging Texas warehouses several thousand people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in nursing homes without adequate services. Texas put at least three men in homes after they'd worked in the Iowa turkey plant. Last month, a federal judge ordered work to start on a plan to end the 'severe and ongoing' problems. Schwartz said Disability Rights Texas did interviews and gathered documents crucial to the case. 'There are no better eyes or ears,' he said.
