A bill making its way through the state Legislature could clear the way for guns to be carried on college campuses. Right now, it's against the law but some students think the law should be changed.
The decision in Tallahassee could impact public college campuses across the state. A bill to carry concealed weapons or firearms recently passed a Senate committee.
Florida Atlantic University students and friends, Bethany Bowra and Thomas Valero, have some things in common, but not their positions on guns on campus.
"People have some assumption that this bill is just going to hand guns to students as they walk on to campus just for the sake of self-defense and that is not what it is. This bill would just allow students who already have their concealed carry permit outside of campus to be able to carry it on campus," Bowra said.
They would be responsible, trained gun owners Bowra said. Valero doesn't buy it.
"Kids that are not apt to handle high-pressure situations that are just exams or something, they could allow pressure just to kind of condense those feelings into violent behavior," Valero said.
How about guns in student housing, like dormitories or fraternity houses?
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"Granted, we don't all have the best judgment but the overall, that's the risk you have to take. You take that risk by allowing them to have it off campus. People go to bars off campus and have their guns," Bowra said.
At Florida State University, a gunman shot three students last November. America's worst mass shooting happened on Virginia Tech's campus; 32 students and faculty gunned down.
Last month, a man killed nine people at a community college in Oregon.
Valero talked about the marine on that campus who made the decision not to intervene, "He did not know what the cops were doing. He was not aware of the SWAT teams and it created too many variables to have a worse situation."
Guns on campus could be decided in the upcoming Legislative session.
