TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Florida lawmakers have spent weeks going back and forth about the best public safety bill to put before the governor.
The eyes of the nation are watching closely and here in the Sunshine State, teachers seem to be on board with the legislation, except for one big issue.
The Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program allows school personnel who don't solely teach to be armed. That's a major concern for the Florida Education Association.
"People like to say that we're the first responders, and we are their first responders, but we're not first responders with guns. That's not our job," said Joanne McCall, President of the Florida Education Association. "That should be for law enforcement. We want to keep our schools safe. I can't emphasize that enough. We want our schools safe, but we should not be carrying guns. That's not what we were trained to do."
40 teachers from Broward County drove overnight to be in Tallahassee Friday. They're here to hand-deliver a letter to Governor Scott. They want him to take out the funding for the Guardian Program.
"Our students started the movement speaking to have gun control, to have better gun bans, to take away that AR-15 and they completely didn't hear the message," said Anna Fusco, President of the Broward Teachers Union. "Instead, they want to add more guns, and we're not built that way. We're not wired. We'll protect our kids. We don't want to shoot people down."
The Broward County teachers said that part of the bill is a "knee-jerk reaction" to the tragedy they know too well.
They said Governor Scott has the power to keep the state from spending millions of dollars on a program they don't support.
