Strozier victims supportive of campus carry

Two victims of the shooting at Florida State University's Strozier Library support extending the right to carry guns on college campuses.

Farhan "Ronny" Ahmed -- the most severely injured when deranged gunman Myron May fired on students and staff a year ago -- said a concealed weapons holder could have made a difference at Strozier.

“Probably, if anything, that might have stopped (Myron) a little faster," said Ahmed, now paralyzed after one of May's bullets damaged his spinal cord.

Concealed weapons holders, he argued, are not the type to shoot innocent people at a school building.

“Myron was not that type of person,” Ahmed said. “Those people are not usually carrying around every day.”

The debate over whether to expand the right to carry has been a controversial issue in the Florida Legislature, inflamed by the Strozier incident and other campus shootings across the country. But gun rights advocates received good news on Thursday. A state House bill that would grant concealed weapons permit holders the right to carry on Florida's college campuses cleared its final committee. HB 4001 will go before a full House vote at the next legislative session scheduled for January.

Following the shooting, Nathan Scott, the library's front-desk clerk who was shot in the leg, started researching both sides of the issue and came away with a "lukewarm, positive view of allowing open carry on campuses for personal defense."

He's not a staunch supporter, but Scott can rattle off firearm statistics. He added that examples suggest schools won't be more dangerous with students or teachers packing heat.

"I’d always figured there were these stories of concealed carry owners actually shooting someone or getting shot by police because they were confused or whatever. And when you go looking for those stories they don’t really exist," he said. “It seems like an overly emotional issue."

Scott isn't a fan of the legislative process and doubts the issue will be resolved anytime soon. For reasons unknown to him, rumors have circulated about Scott's stance on guns: It's been said he was a member of the campus group pushing the bill, Students for Concealed Carry, and that he himself was a concealed weapons holder. Both sides of the debate have asked him to testify before state lawmakers. He turned down each offer.

The truth is, Scott only knows people in the Concealed Carry group, does not own a gun and does not have a concealed weapons permit. He’s fired weapons at a shooting range and shot rifles behind his grandfather's house.

“It’s kind of goofy because when a situation like this happens, they do want people with guns to come save them," he said. "But they have some emotional reaction to people who are not police coming in with guns and doing the same thing. They construct this scenario where everyone is incapable of doing that efficiently or effectively, but all the evidence is kind of saying the opposite — that people that are on the scene have quicker reaction, have a better idea of what’s going on, they’re less likely to hit innocent bystanders.”

While both victims lean toward the concealed carry viewpoint, Ahmed would rather "wave a magic wand" and remove all guns. But that’s impossible, he said.

"People feel very strong about gun ownership," he said, "and obviously that’s not going to go away any time soon.”

Contact Sean Rossman at srossman@tallahassee.com or follow @SeanRossman on Twitter.