Florida Senate Passes Bill Allowing Teachers to Be Armed to Shoot Back

The Florida Senate passed legislation on Monday that will allow teachers to be armed to shoot back if their classroom comes under attack.

WJCT reported that the legislation, SB 7030, passed by a vote of 22-17. Every Democrat in the Senate voted against giving the teachers the option to be armed. Sen. Anitere Flores (R-Miami) joined the Democrats.

SB 7030 does not require that teachers be armed. Rather, it expands the state’s “Guardian” program to give teachers who wish to be armed the opportunity to pursue the training and credentials necessary to do so.

The Associated Press reported that SB 7030 was written in light of recommendations made by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. That commission, headed by Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, found that the presence of armed teachers could have possibly stopped the February 14, 2018, Parkland high school attack.

Breitbart News noted Sheriff Gualtieri’s observation that the Parkland gunman paused five times to reload during his attack. Each of those five pauses represents an opportunity wherein an armed teacher could have taken the gunman out. Gualtieri said knowledge of what the presence of armed teachers could have achieved “gnaws” at him now.

AP quoted Gualtieri saying, “People need to keep an open mind to it as the reality is that if someone else in that school had a gun it could have saved kids’ lives.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.