FSU students have plan to prevent campus shootings — after all, they lived through one

Miami Herald

2 days ago

On April 17, 2025, a gunman entered the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee — our campus — killing two people and injuring six others.
Phoenix Ikner, 20, an FSU undergraduate student from Tallahassee, is being charged with the murder of Coach Robert Morales— a local legend who coached high school football and had ties to Miami — and Tiru Chabba, a South Carolinian food service executive visiting FSU for work.
A lack of gun control didn't directly cause this tragedy. Ikner used firearms that legally belonged to his parents; his stepmother is a Leon County Sheriff's deputy. While there is no single solution to prevent gun violence, a group of FSU students has developed a three-part proposal to mitigate the risk of school shootings on college campuses.
We propose three legislative acts: the ACCESS Act, the ARMOR Act and the AGENT Act.
▪ The ACCESS Act addresses a long-standing issue for college students — access to mental health resources. College students are an especially vulnerable group when it comes to mental health.
This act would create the Office of Mental Health Services to provide oversight and coordinate mental health resources across Florida's public university system. It would fund the hiring of more licensed mental health practitioners and train existing staff on specialized care. A portion of services would be provided by licensed professionals, with support from graduate students earning clinical hours. Of course, counseling alone cannot prevent all forms of gun violence.
▪ The ARMOR Act is designed to ensure that every classroom door on Florida's 110 public college campuses can be locked from the inside during an emergency. This simple yet crucial infrastructure upgrade could save lives by buying time during active shooter events.
▪ The AGENT Act is a more controversial but, we believe, necessary measure. It gives students the right to protect themselves from armed threats, like the one we faced in April. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Gun-Free School Zones Act to curb campus violence. However, in practice, this designation has turned campuses into soft targets — spaces where law-abiding citizens cannot respond to threats.
The AGENT Act in accordance with federal statute, would permit campus carry of guns in Florida under tightly controlled conditions. It would not simply follow Florida's constitutional carry law. Instead, the AGENT Act would require a concealed carry weapons (CCW) permit, which involves a live-fire proficiency test. To carry on campus, students and staff would have to pass this test annually and undergo regular mental health check-ins through the new Office of Mental Health Services or an equivalent body on private campuses.
Our bill is modeled on elements from Georgia and West Virginia's campus carry laws and includes important limitations. For instance, weapons would not be allowed in on-campus daycares to eliminate risks to infants and children.
Similarly, areas with 'adequate security measures'— meaning locations with electronic screening and armed staff— would be exempt from carry permissions, as those spaces already have built-in protections.
By combining mental health investment, safety-focused infrastructure upgrades and regulated campus carry, we believe Florida can make meaningful progress in protecting students.
We, the students behind this proposal, urge the Florida Legislature to act. We also call on the public to demand meaningful change from their elected officials.
We are looking for legislative sponsors and are meeting with Florida representatives and senators.
Together, we can turn a tragic moment into a lasting transformation that protects the future of our state — and its students.
Reid Seybold is pursuing a bachelor's degree in political science at FSU. Noah Brown is pursuing a master's degree in applied American politics. They can be reached at: [e-mail].