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Joe Rondone / Democrat Jeff Burlew, Sean Rossman and Bill Cotterell are the Capitol Team for the 2015 legislative session.(Photo: Joe Rondone/Democrat)Buy Photo

One would expect someone like Farhan "Ronny" Ahmed to have a strong opinion on a bill that would allow people to legally carry guns on a college campus.

After all, situations like his are the exact reason bills like Rep. Greg Steube's HB 4005 are introduced. Steube, a Sarasota Republican, has argued that Ahmed, a 21-year-old Florida State University student, was not protected by the gun-free zone he stood in when gunman Myron May shot him outside Strozier Library.

But Ahmed, now paralyzed from the waist down, said he has read nothing of the guns on campus bills that are moving through the House and Senate. At FSU Day on Tuesday, I asked him whether he had any opinion on the matter.

He calmly said "no" and chose not to elaborate. That's fine, there's enough discussion on the bills.

A social media brouhaha erupted late Tuesday night when one of Tallahassee's Democratic legislators announced she would vote for Steube's bill, one that many see as a call to arms for Republicans.

Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda confirmed on a Facebook comment thread that the rumors were true.

She got a screen full.

"Very disappointed!!! More guns are NOT the solution," said Elvira Galicia Akinyemi. It didn't help when she said guns were a "great equalizer," a term one Facebooker called appalling.

"Our representative is certainly not a Democrat," said Andy Janecek on the Leon County Democratic Party Facebook page. "She has shown us here today she cares little about the wishes of the students she represents."

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A Democrat's call for arms

CAPITOL HILL

As unconfirmed reports surfaced that a draft of an Iran nuclear deal was being circulated among the parties to international negotiations in Switzerland, U.S. lawmakers at a hearing Thursday in Washington seemed to grow increasingly nervous.

Officials told the Associated Press that the U.S. and Iran were drafting elements of a nuclear deal that committed Tehran to a 40 percent cut in the number of machines it could use to make an atomic bomb. In return, the officials said, Iran would get quick relief from some crippling economic sanctions and a partial lifting of a U.N. embargo on conventional arms.

Later in the day, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki dismissed reports of a deal.

"The reports are inaccurate," she said. "There is no draft document being circulated. The fundamental framework issues are still under comprehensive discussion, and obviously that is what [Secretary of State John Kerry] is focused on now."

Kerry has been in Switzerland this week, meeting with his Iranian counterpart as the United States and its partner countries Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany try to reach an outline of an agreement before March 31. The deadline for a comprehensive agreement is the end of June.

Letter to Obama

At a contentious House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the Iran nuclear talks, several lawmakers insisted that Congress role in the negotiating process must not be marginalized.

Represenative Eliot Engel of New York, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said he and Republican Chairman Ed Royce of California were sending a letter to President Barack Obama expressing their concerns about what needs to be in an Iran nuclear deal.

A draft of the letter emphasizes that permanent sanctions relief, which Iran has repeatedly requested during the Geneva negotiations, would require new legislation.

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US Congress Asks Obama for Greater Role in Iran Nuclear Deal

MVI 5628 Democrat #39;s Placed All Of Their Eggs In The Wrong Basket!
Hillary might end of soon being a felon, upon her separation from the State Department she was expected to have signed a separation form that is very clear. Misrepresentation can result in...

By: Gabor Zolna

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MVI 5628 Democrat's Placed All Of Their Eggs In The Wrong Basket! - Video

USA: PRESIDENCY: HOWARD DEAN IN LEAD FOR DEMOCRAT CANDIDACY
ITN USA: New Hampshire: INT SIDE LMS Dr Howard Dean (Democrat Presidential Candidate) speaking at political meeting SOT Democrats applauding Dean speech SOT Dean supporters PAN...

By: ITN Source

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USA: PRESIDENCY: HOWARD DEAN IN LEAD FOR DEMOCRAT CANDIDACY - Video

By DAVID ESPO and ERICA WERNER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats blocked debate on stalled human trafficking legislation for a second day Wednesday as a Democratic senator's office belatedly conceded that a staff aide knew weeks ago that the measure included a controversial abortion-related provision.

Democrats have said for more than a week that their side of the aisle was not aware of the provision until a few days ago, nearly two months after the legislation was made public and long after a bipartisan vote in the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 24.

Several Democrats have accused Republicans of sneaking it into the measure without their discovering it.

But Julia Krahe, a spokeswoman for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, said an aide to the Minnesota Democrat "had seen the language" relating to abortion before the committee voted.

The aide "did not inform the senator. The senator takes responsibility for the work of her office and missing the provision and she is focused on moving forward to find a way to fix the bill and protect victims of trafficking," Krahe added. Her disclosure came in an email Tuesday evening in response to an inquiry first made a week ago.

Klobuchar is a leading Democratic advocate for the trafficking bill.

It was not clear if the Democratic aide informed any other staff members or officials in outside groups involved in the measure. Advocates with the National Organization for Women, the National Women's Law Center and several other women's groups said at a press conference Wednesday that they had not known of the provision.

Democrats erupted in anger last week, when they said they had belatedly discovered the presence of the provision.

The legislation is designed to help victims of sexual trafficking, establishing a fund to do so that would receive money paid by convicted sexual traffickers as part of their court cases. The measure says none of the money could be used to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the woman were in danger.

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Democrat: Republicans putting Lynch at 'back of the bus'