By Staff Report
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Friday expanding Florida’s armed “school guardian” program to include colleges and universities.
The law builds on changes made in the public-school system after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
DeSantis said the guardian program acts as a deterrent and will help make college campuses safer.
“They don’t know whether they’re going to be able to face resistance, so that they try to gravitate toward gun free areas, where they know basically people are going to be sitting ducks,” DeSantis said during an event at the Idea Center in Miami. “The guardian, it puts the bad guys on the defense. They don’t know who is going to be able to offer them resistance.”
The new law (HB 757) requires colleges and universities to train faculty to recognize and respond to mental health issues, implement active assailant response plans and establish post-incident family reunification plans.
The measure also creates felony penalties for discharging a weapon within 1,000 feet of a college or university campus.
In addition, records related to student behavior — including threat-assessment reports and psychological evaluations — must follow students when they transition from K-12 schools to state colleges or universities.
Lawmakers crafted the bill after a shooting at Florida State University during the 2025 legislative session in which a student killed two people and injured five others.
Ali Moreland 
AMBER PATINO