It wasn’t a scene from a western shootout, but Tuesday’s Student Senate meeting was full of heated debate.
Senators voted 52-17 to approve a resolution in opposition of Florida Senate Bill 234, which, if passed, would allow guns on college campuses.
A resolution is a piece of legislation that expresses the Senate’s formal opinion but takes no action.
Senators against the bill were split on whether to oppose the bill completely or to postpone the vote until more research was conducted to gauge student opinion.
Sen. Carly Wilson, who represents the Unite Party, was in opposition of the resolution.
Wilson, who is also the chairwoman of the UF College Republicans, said students have a right to carry a weapon if they choose to because it is protected by the Constitution.
“This is not rocket science — this is the Second Amendment,” she said.
Dave Schneider, the Progress Party candidate for Student Body president, said he was against the idea of guns on campus.
He said he would prefer that new legislation be brought before the Senate calling for the prohibition of assault rifles for the UF Police Department in light of the shooting of graduate student Kofi Adu-Brempong last spring.
“Weapons don’t have a place at an educational institution,” Schneider said.
Senators also voted to postpone the vote on a transparency bill so a committee could first investigate the legality of the legislation.
The bill would have made all Student Government and Senate voting records and meetings available on the SG website.
Some senators were concerned about whether future employees would be able to check on their votes later, while those in favor of the bill said the senators had nothing to hide.
A bipartisan transparency committee will discuss on the legality of the bill before it can be brought back to the Senate floor.
