Mediaboss Marketing

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."

View post:
A Democrat's call for arms