Guns battle brewing: Campus and open carry bills will be back in 2025 Florida Legislature

A Labor Day weekend glass bottle attack of two Pennsylvania students wearing yarmulkes has prompted Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard, to renew his pledge to file legislation to repeal Florida’s “gun-free zone” for state college and university campuses.

Fine’s pledge comes in the wake of gun activists filing a federal lawsuit in South Florida to have Florida’s open-carry ban declared unconstitutional, and after Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Legislature earlier this year eliminated a requirement for a concealed weapon permit to carry firearms in public.

Gunowners of America, which filed the lawsuit, said this year's changes in Florida gun regulations did not go far enough and criticized DeSantis for not pushing for further expansion of Second Amendment rights.

Fine: Gun rights shouldn't end on college campuses

Fine has stepped into the middle of the standoff between Second Amendment activists and Republican lawmakers.

GOA Florida Director Louis Valdes said open carry and campus carry top the group's agenda for the 2025 legislative session.

Fine is a state Senate candidate who endorsed former President Donald Trump over DeSantis early in the presidential race because of what Fine said was DeSantis’ “quietness around the rise of Nazism.”

Nationwide, nearly three-quarters of Jewish students say they have experienced or witnessed antisemitic incidents on campus since Hamas attacked southern Israel Oct. 7.

But Fine said that self defense and safety is an issue for lots of students.

As an advocate for the Second Amendment, Fine told the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida, “there is nothing magic when you cross from non-university to university property.”

"If you have the right to carry across the street from a college campus why shouldn't you have that right on the college campus," Fine said. “We’ve seen that the government can’t protect everyone, everywhere."

Will Fine's battle with DeSantis play into GOP divide on guns

If Fine wins in November, gun laws may become a new front in the escalating feud with DeSantis, which has become one of the most public spats between Florida Republicans in recent years.

If elected, Fine intends to introduce a bill in January that had been debated in eight straight legislative sessions, repeatedly failing in the Senate. It could further widen the split between DeSantis and his one-time ally Fine.

As a first-term lawmaker, Fine introduced DeSantis to Jewish communities when DeSantis first ran for governor in 2018 but the relationship between the two has soured. Disagreements about spending decisions in the state budget, education policies and what Fine viewed as a soft response to antisemitism led to a public split.

When Fined pulled his endorsement of DeSantis' presidential campaign in favor of Trump last October, DeSantis dismissed the move. He told reporters Fine had failed to win appointment as the Florida Atlantic University president and was acting out and trying to win Trump's support for his Senate campaign.

"Totally ridiculous," DeSantis told The Messenger. "He was up for a presidency of FAU. He didn't get it. Now he's running for Senate. ... he's trying to ingratiate himself."

When DeSantis went to Dublin to watch the Florida State University - Georgia Tech football game, Fine renewed his criticism of DeSantis and tweeted he was disappointed to see "folks go to a clearly antisemitc country that supports Muslim terror" – Ireland earlier this year formally recognized a Palestinian state .

DeSantis fired back.

“All I will say to that is I think just about every lobbyist in Tallahassee made that trip. So is Rep. Fine going to stop taking the money from all the lobbyists like he’s been doing? I’d like to see his answer to that,” DeSantis said to reporters at a Polk County news conference.

Fine, the only Jewish Republican in the Legislature told Florida Politics, “I think we’ve grown used to these childish responses to legitimate criticism by Gov. DeSantis, and his petulance isn’t worthy of a response.”

But when DeSantis' staffers began criticizing Fine in social media posts, Fine tweeted their comments were unprofessional and inappropriate and suggested the Legislature should look into whether all the positions on the governor's staff are needed, since they are engaged in political work.

A request for comment on campus and open carry is pending with the governor's office.

Florida joins 18 states in prohibiting firearms on college campuses

DeSantis quietly signed the permitless carry bill last year, and the 2024 legislative session was the first since 2016 a campus carry proposal did not get a committee hearing.

DeSantis has told groups like Gun Owners of America he would support open-carry legislation, which would include campus carry, but gun rights advocates have been disappointed he has not pushed the issue with more force.

Last session, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo held the line on open-carry after talking to the Florida Sheriff's Association.

“The sheriffs who I deeply respect, who are in the business, who understand the issues, do not support open carry in the state of Florida,” Passidomo said.

A question on whether Senate President designate Ben Albritton would take a similar tact is pending with his office.

Florida is among 18 states that prohibit firearms on college campuses.

“Even though Florida claims to be the freest state in the nation it prosecutes Floridians who want to openly carry firearms,” said Valdes of Gun Owners of America.

The group endorses the campus carry bill Fine is writing.

“It’s appalling that the states that border Florida have campus carry but Florida does not,” Valdes said.

Democrats like Rep. Anna Eskamani of Orlando opposed this year's repeal of a concealed weapons permit to carry a firearm in public. Both Eskamani and Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, argued to lift gun restrictions was a dangerous policy, and in opposition offered amendments to allow the public to carry guns into legislative meetings.

Pizzo said it was ironic that most Floridians have to worry about gun violence and their wives at the grocery store, and their children in school, but Pizzo and his colleagues are safe in the Senate chambers, a gun-free zone.

And during House debate, Eskamani added, “If we think that more guns make people safe ... then we should walk the talk. We should allow for guns to be in all of our committee spaces, to be in the gallery, to not just have it be held by those who are professionals but have it be held by folks who might have no training.”

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and is on X as @CallTallahassee .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Guns battle brewing: Campus and open carry bills will be back in 2025 Florida Legislature