Governor Ron DeSantis expected to sign controversial bill into law despite widespread opposition from campaigners and teachers

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A hugely unpopular measure to allow Florida teachers to carry guns in their classrooms was approved by state legislators late on Wednesday after a lengthy and contentious debate that left some lawmakers in tears.

Two days of high emotion in state capital, Tallahassee, ended with the Republican-controlled Florida house voting 65-47 to approve a wide-ranging school safety bill that expands the “armed guardian” programme, set up after the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school massacre, to include trained educators.

The controversial bill, earlier approved along party lines in the Florida senate, now heads to the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law.

“Armed teachers have no place in our kids’ classrooms,” said Gay Valimont, volunteer leader of the Florida chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, one of a number of advocacy groups that opposed the proposal.

“The risks of arming teachers are well documented, as is the research indicating there are much better ways to keep our kids safe in school. We implore Governor DeSantis to listen to Floridians and veto this risky bill.”

Passions ran high in the Florida house on Wednesday as Democratic politicians, who persuaded five Republicans to break party lines and vote against the measure, railed against the provision that allows county school boards to place guns in the hands of teacher volunteers.

At times shouting into the microphone, Shevrin Jones, a black state congressman from Broward county where the Stoneman Douglas shooting took place, envisaged a scenario in which an armed educator faced a rowdy classroom and felt overwhelmed.

“What happens when that teacher feels threatened?” he said, before engaging in a heated debate about race in which he suggested teachers needed to address any prejudices they held before choosing to arm themselves.

Jones missed the subsequent vote, blaming a medical episode and hospital visit following “the emotional debate” that he said would result in several days’ bed rest.

His Democratic colleague Susan Valdes pointed to an incident this week in Wesley Chapel, Florida, in which a law enforcement officer’s gun accidentally discharged in a middle school cafeteria, although nobody was injured.

“We see accidents happening every day,” Valdes said, adding that her vote against the measure was to “stand with the children who have told me, ‘Don’t put more guns in our schools’”.

Republicans, however, looked past opinion polls indicating most Floridians were against arming teachers. A Quinnipiac poll in March showed voters disapproved 57-40 of allowing trained teachers and school officials to carry guns on campus, and believed by a margin of 58-32 that stricter gun laws would do more to reduce gun violence in schools than arming teachers.

Dane Eagle, the house Republican leader, insisted that the law – which includes a range of other “school hardening” measures, including improved mental health services, better risk assessment and streamlined reporting of incidents – merely “offered a pathway” for educators who wished to be trained and armed.

“These are the individuals who want to protect you and others if they need to do so. When law enforcement can’t get there to save others, I hope there’s someone in that room who is able,” he said.

Individual school boards, he noted, would still have the right to opt out, as several of the state’s largest school districts including Miami-Dade and Broward have already said they would do.

Some students or loved ones of those caught up in the Parkland shooting became gun-control activists were outraged at the legislation.

Emma Gonzales added her comments to a social media post by Lauren Hogg, the sister of activist David Hogg.

Emma González (@Emma4Change) LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE AFFECTED BY THIS, THOSE IN THE LEGISLATURE DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO US https://t.co/90DYwsLAlq

Manuel Oliver said he feared the next perpetrator of a school shooting would be a teacher.

Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, said school districts would be “the last line of defence”.

“Parents and educators should ask tough questions,” he said. “Will teachers wear guns, or how will firearms be stored? Will parents and students be told if the teacher in any given classroom is armed? Can parents opt their kids out of a class where the teacher is carrying?”

He added: “If a weapon is accidentally fired or displayed by a teacher, what reporting and disciplinary measures will be in place. There are a lot questions a district needs to answer if it plans to allow armed teachers.”