On Tuesday, the 21st of February, Florida’s House Judiciary Committee voted on a new law that would allow people to carry firearms without a permit or prior firearm training as long as the firearm is concealed.

The bill was aimed at improving public safety, the idea being that if more citizens have guns then shootings will decrease as criminals would be deterred by the increased chance of being shot. According to CBS who was covering the bill had reported that the, “House Judiciary Committee backed a proposal that combines allowing people to carry concealed firearms without licenses and efforts to improve school safety.” The committee also added onto the idea of safety by mentioning adding more school guardians that would carry the guns on campus, with canines that could detect firearms.

The bill has received a lot a backlash when the idea was proposed, the counterargument being that without firearm permits, gun violence would instead increase. A sophomore at the Florida State University Students and member Demand Action, Alexis Dorman, had voiced their concern on the bill, “kids today are watching victims the same ages as themselves die of gun violence at restaurants, schools, concert venues, shopping malls, parks, neighborhood gatherings, sporting complexes and, worst of all, inside their own homes,” and the bill will enable even more of that, Dorman stated.

The bill had passed through Florida’s mainly Republican Committee with the vote 16-7. Now the bill is ready to go to the full House after March 7th. Florida currently has 1,971,997 concealed weapon permits that have been given out, the number growing by 17,500 each month. Though if the bill were to fully pass, permits will no longer be completely necessary, and the number of guns bought in Florida will increase.