By Rick Outzen

The Florida Legislature is considering legislation (SB 498 and HB 259) that on any private elementary, middle, high school or college campus if any religious institution is also located on the property, guns would presumptively be allowed to be carried anywhere on that campus by concealed weapon license holders. The bill does allow religious institutions or owners of the property to continue prohibiting firearms should they so choose.

The House bill has strong support from Northwest Florida’s delegation, with Jayer Williamson introducing the bill and Alex Andrade and Michelle Salzman as co-sponsors.

Currently, Florida law does not prohibit a licensee from carrying a concealed firearm or weapon in a church, synagogue or other religious institution. However, licensees aren’t allowed to bring their guns on school campuses. Therefore, it’s a crime to carry a firearm in a place of worship that also has a school on its property.

Rep. Williamson said he introduced the bill to fix what he considers a glitch in Florida Statute

“Even if a Pre-K met Monday through Friday, law-abiding permit holders would be breaking the law by carrying on Sunday,” he said. “HB259 will treat those types of properties just as all other religious institutions are currently treated. The bill also helps fill a void for private schools housed on the property of religious institutions and allows them to ensure their campuses are safe and secure.”

Rep. Andrade told Inweekly that he and Rep. Williamson talked about the bill during his first session because they felt the current law penalized small churches that hold services on public school property.

“These small churches were forced to either hire off-duty law enforcement or go without armed security,” Andrade told Inweekly. “All the bill does is reinstitute the ability for churches to use volunteer security teams during church activities, just like they did before the school safety bill.”

He added, “If a church does not want to allow firearms at their services, they still have that ability. But with the examples we’ve seen in the past few years of attacks targeting houses of worship, I believe the option is needed now more than ever.”

Rep. Salzman told Inweekly that she co-sponsored HB 259 because “this bill allows law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families while attending church.”

Other groups see the legislation differently. The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged lawmakers to oppose the bills and “keep our school campuses safe and gun-free.” The bishops’ concerns are that the legislation places onus on schools that support current law and not on the few who seek this change. Schools that establish more restrictive policies may be recognized as softer targets.

At a Zoom conference held by the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence last week, Dr. Danielle Thomas, the Florida PTA’s vice president of Educational Development for Florida PTA, said, “The Florida PTA believes the most effective day-to-day school climate to be a gun-free climate. We believe the only people on our school campuses who should be armed should be trained law enforcement officers.”

Rep. Williamson told Inweekly that he never takes offense to opposition on his bills.

“Sometimes, I do scratch my head, though,” he shared. “The Catholic Church will have the right to prohibit guns on all their campuses if they see fit. That is their decision. Nothing in this bill removes the rights of property owners, so their concerns seem null.”

Williamson continued, “The PTA has shown concern for making sure this bill is not a loophole to get guns in public schools, which it is not. We have school resource officers and the guardian program set up for public schools.”

However, Carrie Boyd, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Action Fund’s policy director, believes guns in schools on church grounds is a “slippery slope issue by design.”

“It takes a bite out of the legal apple that disavows guns in schools as good public policy with the goal of additional bites becoming the norm until the prohibition against guns in schools is gobbled up for good,” said Boyd.

She said the first bite is allowing guns in private schools where there is a religious house of worship attached or on the same property. The second bite is opening the door to guns in churches with taxpayer-funded pre-kindergarten programs or private schools. The third bite involves churches renting space from public schools for events.

“Will people be allowed to carry on public-school premises if they’re in attendance for a religious function?” said Boyd. “These bites are not aimed at protecting public safety. Rather, this is an agenda put forward to slowly chomp away at the prohibition against guns in schools in the state of Florida.”

The executive director of the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus, Andy Pelosi, echoed Boyd’s points saying the bill’s current language was at best vague and at worst silent regarding when guns must be prohibited, such as extracurricular activities.

“What about religious instruction classes held during the week that might coincide with a school event? Can people carry their firearms?” asked Pelosi.

He believes worshipers who bring guns on public school campuses during non-school hours contravenes the Federal Gun-free School Zone Act, which prohibits any unauthorized individual from knowingly possessing a loaded or unsecured firearm in a place that the individual knows is a school zone.

“There are many cases where guns have either been left behind or unintentionally discharged in houses of worship, as well as schools, which should give Florida lawmakers pause before proceeding with this legislation,” said Pelosi. “Our hope is that Floridians will reach out to their state lawmakers and urge them to oppose this legislation and not to allow guns to be carried in our schools or college campuses.”

Angela Gallo, the co-chair of the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said the push for these bills is coming from the National Rifle Association (NRA). She said, “This is not the first time we’ve seen this bill. It’s a different variation of bills that we’ve seen in the past. Last year, it was more of an opt-in versus an opt-out. This year, they’ve strengthened it a little so that churches will actually have to opt-out of the concealed carry. “

She added, “It’s important to know that churches on private property without schools can already determine their own rules for their private property and they can conceal carry.”

Pelosi said, “It’s not surprising that the gun lobby is trying to do this because the gun lobby’s playbook is to push guns into every single public place that they possibly can, whether it be schools, parks, libraries and so on.”

At the Florida Senate committee hearing on SB 498, Marion Hammer, former president of the pro-gun NRA and now head of Unified Sportsmen of Florida, said, “People who go to church are being deprived of the same rights [to carry concealed firearms] that they have when they go shopping. Just because a church has a private childcare program or a private pre-K program does not mean the government can hijack its private property.”

The day after the Zoom conference, the Florida chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, came opposed to the bills.

“This proposal presents a danger for students of all ages,” wrote the groups. “Research strongly supports the idea that children will access guns when they are present, and there have been numerous incidents where guns carried into schools were misplaced or stolen.”

“I know the dangers that allowing guns into schools poses firsthand—my daughter was at Episcopal School of Jacksonville in 2012 when a recently fired teacher shot and killed the headmaster and then himself,” said Rev. Deacon Dianne Larson, a volunteer with the Florida chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Our lawmakers should reject this risky legislation and keep guns off of school grounds.”

by admin | Mar 17, 2021 | featured, Issue, News