In 2018, the Florida Legislature reacted to the mass shooting in Parkland by passing major safety regulations. Chances for a such a response to Thursday’s shootings at Florida State University are slim.
That doesn’t mean legislators are ignoring the politics of guns.
Start with Miami Republican state Sen. Illeana Garcia, who joined with three Senate Democrats in a committee vote last month rejecting a proposal sponsored by then-GOP Sen. Randy Fine (SB 814) to allow concealed weapons on college and university campuses.
“I have zero regret,” Garcia said on X late Thursday night about that vote, in which she joined with Democratic Sens. Jason Pizzo, Mack Bernard, and Carlos Guillermo Smith in opposing the proposal. Two other Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee were absent for the vote.
“Proud to have voted against your moronic campus carry bill, that didn’t have a house companion,” Garcia said, referring to Fine. “This decision wasn’t about partisan politics; it was rooted in common sense. The incident at FSU was tragic, but the real issue lies not with the firearm itself, but with the factors that led to it. The individual involved was the child of a deputy sheriff and had knowledge of weapon handling, yet chose to act recklessly.”
Fine noted the vote in a posting on X on Friday, where he included an excerpt of his speech in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 25.
“There is no magic force field that keeps guns from coming onto our college campuses,” he said. “Less than one month ago, in my last bill presentation as a Florida Senator, I attempted to give adults the same right to protect themselves on campus as they have off. My four-minute closing speech is below. For the first and only time in 8.5 years in the Legislature, I failed. By a vote of 3-4, with two absent, the committee voted to keep universities ‘gun-free zones.’ An offensive name given what happened yesterday. The no vote included all three Democrats plus one so-called Republican. I am incredibly grateful to the law enforcement who ran into the gunfire yesterday to subdue the gunman. But in the time that took, this murderer was able to shoot seven people, two of whom have died. Today, I wonder if one of those seven had been able to defend themselves, the outcome would have been different. In any event, I will continue praying for all.”
Following the Parkland school shooting in February of 2018, within weeks the Florida Legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott came together to pass the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public High School Safety Act, a comprehensive measure that included numerous provisions regarding firearms and school safety, plus community mental health resources.
There have been attempts over the past three legislative sessions to repeal a provision of that law that bans individuals under 21 years of age from purchasing rifles and shotguns, and prohibiting licensed firearm dealers, importers, and manufacturers, from selling them to people of that age. Those measures have passed the House in 2023, 2024, and this year. In the past two years, the Senate did not pass a companion measure, and a similar measure has yet to advance in the 2025 legislative session.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Laurel says
Okay, I’m a bit confused on who is calling the bill moronic. Fine is quoted in the title, whereas Garcia is quoted in the text.
Regardless, Fine just keeps the stupid going. These politicians are not representing thinking Americans, quite the opposite. Their idea of stopping a gasoline fire is to pour more gasoline on it. That’s the logic here. They just don’t give a damn that kids are killed, as long as they can juice up their voters.
I’ll never forget Marjorie Taylor Green chasing David Hogg, a child at the time and a survivor of the Parkland shooting, down the street and verbally harassing him. Now, she’s in Congress. WTF, people? The people you want in public office just stuns me.
JimboXYZ says
Speculation on how Thursday plays out at FSU for a body count. Maybe Phoenix Ikner doesn’t pull a gun when the rest of the students outnumber him. As I understand it, once cornered by law enforcement he didn’t surrender in that moment & they shot him. And it’s speculation that similarly to the Texas stabbing that Karmelo Anthony killed another student with a knife. Anyone that died, if you could ask them today if having a fighting chance to survive with their own concealed weapon carry for any incident. They’d take their chances. We might have another story out of Thursday’s mass shooting, the Kyle Rittenhouse-like student that saved lives, put down Phoenix Ikner. Nobody wins for any of it, spins will be what they are. The best thing that can come from Thursday’s mass shooting is that Phoenix Ikner expire. Instead we have to endure another year to make sure he has rights, when he should not have any. Nobody wants to hear the reasons, the excuses or anything else. And like Parkland, anyone want to have to sit thru a list of victims for convictions & penalties of stacked life imprisonments that we all know the active shooter has only a single lifetime to offer as restitution. The only upside to the mass shooting was there were fewer victims than Parkland. The sooner that the message of zero tolerance is reinforced with a death penalty that would be immediately carried out for the obvious admission of the crimes, the better off we’re all going to be as a human race.
We can read the ramblings of Phoenix Ikner, some of it politicized nonsense the left would spin to score a point vs the right. One thing is for certain, maybe outside Ikner’s parents that knew the side of him prior to being the mass shooter. Nobody will miss Phoenix Ikner, not more than 24 hours later, I even had to Google his name to make sure this comment was accurate. Just a very forgettable human being for any accomplishment towards bettering mankind. Phoenix ? He won’t be rising from the ashes like the mythological bird. He’ll be buried under the same prison the Parkland Shooter is. They can be best friends or whatever it is they might be able to co-exist with each other as. Maybe each should be given dueling pistols and see which of them survives ? Make them be roommates until their duel ?
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
Randy Fine, the buffoon that District 6 is sending to Congress. To replace the do nothing Mike Waltz that District 6 sent to Washington, D.C. over and over.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
I’ve been looking at various news outlets for information about she shooter. I see here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/us/fsu-shooting-suspect-victims.html
He was a registered republican and a white supremacist to boot, and a staunch 2a advocate. Stepson of a cop, too. Huh.
celia pugliese says
These weapons, most only created for war fare, in everyones whether sick with dementia, unstable or just prone to shoot, need to be taken off the civilian markets as our children are being massacred in schools! Enough said!
Deborah Coffey says
Right. And, now the moron is in Washington, D.C. about to do grave damage to our district and to our lives in dozens of ways.
A Republic if you can keep it says
Stupidity and the universe ( but there’s doubts about the universe ) there’s no end . You see an “R” next to their name and a mention of their name by the “grifter in chief” MAGA only has one reflex . As the economy of this country continues to deteriorate,prices and inflation increase and the USA increases its position as the laughingstock of the world ..maybe they will have some doubts ..maybe. You put this lemming in Congress you deserve what you get.
David Meeks says
Again & again NO ONE wants to actually do what’s needed. The answer isn’t the guns, the answer isn’t the politics, the answer is to LOCK UP CRAZY PEOPLE. These people are not fit to be among the rest of us & need to be locked away. Another answer is to ban social media. Social media gives these crazies an outlet & voice & just spreads. How many laws do these shooters break when they do these things? What does adding more laws do? NOTHING! Until the people address this SOCIAL problem, it’s going to continue. Ban the guns, go ahead, see what happens…..cars, knives, blunt objects, people have been killing since the dawn of time.
Interesting fact for those that care. More kids are killed each year in pool drownings than school shootings…..CDC fact, look it up!