A bill allowing volunteer security guards at places of worship to carry guns without state licensing requirements passed unanimously in a House subcommittee on Wednesday.

Republican Representative J.J. Grow presented House Bill 95. 

“The purpose of the bill is simple: to improve safety for congregations, reduce financial burdens on churches, and provide clear statutory authority for those volunteers who operate responsibly and not informally.” Grow said.

The bills’ exemption would apply to volunteer armed security services of a church, mosque, synagogue, or other place of worship.

Kenn Winn, a pastor in Pensacola, spoke during public comment. 

Winn says current law leaves a gray area for volunteers providing security. 

“This uncertainty exposes church volunteers like ours, many with concealed weapons licenses, including retired law enforcement or military veterans, to fines, license risks, or worse.” Winn said.

Reggie Bartkowski is the chief of security at a Pensacola church, and spoke during public comment. 

“The recent church shooting in Grand Blanc, Michigan left four dead, eight injured, highlighting the importance of church security. Churches in rural areas may not get law enforcement response for up to 30 minutes. We know every second counts in an active shooter situation.” Reggie Bartkowski said.

The bill received unanimous support. A companion bill, SB 52, has also been moving through the Senate with unanimous support. 

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Activists are speaking out against a bill that would lower the minimum age to purchase or transfer firearms from 21 to 18 in Florida. 

The bill passed 74 to 37 in the Florida House today. 

House Bill 133 would reverse a law that increased the minimum age to purchase or transfer firearms to 21 after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.  

House Majority Leader Tyler Sirois sponsored the bill. 

“It was a tragedy, what happened, and the legislature responded at the time, the way that they thought best. As I said, I was not a member of that body. Had I been, I would not have voted for that bill,” Sirois said.

In a press call on Thursday, members of various gun control advocacy groups criticized the bill, saying 18 is too young to own a firearm. 

Parkland shooting survivor and March For Our Lives executive director Jackie Corin says if passed, the bill will not make Florida safer. 

“It will increase risk, it will put more young people in harm’s way,  more Floridians in harm’s way, and it will reverse a policy that was enacted in direct response to tragedy.” Corin said.

Freddy Barton is a CVI Practitioner at Safe & Sound Hillsborough, an anti-violence council.

Similar bills have been passed in the House in prior years but were never made law.

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The Council will consider renaming Court Street to Charlie Kirk Way in the meeting happening tonight at 6 p.m.

This continues the pace of two executions a month in Florida. Norman Grim is scheduled to be executed Oct. 28 and could be a modern-era record 15th inmate executed this year in the state.

Leavitt was fired in 2010 after allegedly slapping USF football player Joel Miller and will be inducted into the USF Athletics Hall of Fame. He won’t attend or be recognized at the ceremony happening on Thursday.

The bill would require medical examiners to conduct screenings to test for psychotropic drugs on suspects of mass shootings and other violent crimes.

Meteorologist Megan Borowski says Imelda will continue tracking northward before turning into the Atlantic. Today will be breezy with possible occcasional gusts over 20 miles an hour.

The Scoop, produced by Asha Cope-Edwards, Joana Riva.

WMNF anchors Seán Kinane, Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Randi Zimmerman. 
WMNF News Director Seán Kinane
WMNF reporters Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Seán Kinane, Zoe Sax, Julia Ferrara, Leah Burdick, Josh Holton
Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy and Corey Beltran.

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As of yesterday, gun owners now have the right to carry a firearm openly in areas permitted by state and federal law after a ban on the practice was overturned by an appeals court earlier this month.

WMNF’s Chris Young reports, one Arabic scholar says the attempt to erase language may spark deeper discussions on the history of terms used to describe the Middle East.

WMNF’s Sean Kinane reports on the seventeen-year-old who won singles championships in two recent pro tournaments.

The Scoop, produced by Tess Miller.

WMNF anchors Seán Kinane, Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Randi Zimmerman. 
WMNF News Director Seán Kinane
WMNF reporters Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Seán Kinane, Zoe Sax, Julia Ferrara, Leah Burdick, Josh Holton
Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy and Corey Beltran.

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The surgeon general of Florida wants to take away your right to choose an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. All other vaccines would continue to be available to people who want them.

Floridians can now openly carry firearms without the fear of getting prosecuted. The state’s attorney general announced that Florida is no longer enforcing its laws that prohibit the open carry of firearms.

Florida had the second-largest growth in the nation in the number of uninsured children from 2022 to 2024, according to a Georgetown University analysis of new census data. 

The office of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier urged the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday to reject an appeal and clear the way for tomorrow’s scheduled execution of David Pittman.

An Orlando restaurant owner has turned 49 parking spots outside her eatery into art spaces. In response to the state mandate removing rainbow-colored crosswalks and street art.

The Scoop, produced by Sofia Caballero.

WMNF anchors Seán Kinane, Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Randi Zimmerman. 
WMNF News Director Seán Kinane
WMNF reporters Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Seán Kinane, Zoe Sax, Julia Ferrara, Leah Burdick, Josh Holton
Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy and Corey Beltran.

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Florida residents one step closer to being able to openly carry guns in public after a state appeals court ruled yesterday that Florida’s ban is unconstitutional.

William McNeil Jr., the man who was punched during a traffic stop in Jacksonville, has filed a federal lawsuit against the officer and the city. McNeil is being represented by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels.

As peak hurricane season approaches, some members of Congress are sounding the alarm on how Americans receive communication during an emergency.

Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia held a press conference in Lake Mary yesterday, with the focus on firefighters. Ingoglia emphasized the higher risk firefighters have of being diagnosed with cancer.

The Scoop, produced by Sofia Caballero.

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WMNF reporters Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Seán Kinane, Zoe Sax, Julia Ferrara, Leah Burdick, Josh Holton
Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy and Corey Beltran.

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Governor Ron DeSantis signaled yesterday that he will again push lawmakers to allow people to openly carry guns in Florida.

State Representative and Miami Republican, Mike Redondo, will serve as chair of a select committee that will look at redrawing Florida’s congressional districts.

A federal judge in Miami has overturned verdicts amounting to almost $120 million dollars against Expedia and three other U.S. online travel firms.  Expedia, Orbitz and two Hotels dot com entities were found liable earlier this year for violating the Cuban embargo.

September 8th was “9-8-8 Day” — part of a national initiative to raise awareness of the suicide and crisis lifeline during Suicide Prevention Month. 

Prochlorococcus is the smallest and most abundant phytoplankton. With new research suggesting that this tiny phytoplankton an essential part of the marine food web may decline sharply as oceans warm. 

The Scoop, produced by Sofia Caballero.

WMNF anchors Seán Kinane, Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Randi Zimmerman. 
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WMNF reporters Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Seán Kinane, Zoe Sax, Julia Ferrara, Leah Burdick, Josh Holton
Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy and Corey Beltran.

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Days after the mass shooting at Florida State University, legislators are entering a new week of the legislative session and House Democrats are raising red flags about gun legislation. 

Democratic representatives discussed various topics on a call Monday, including the shooting that killed two. 

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell claims that the  Democratic Party has brought up gun control laws that don’t get heard by the Republican supermajority. 

“If we have the time to rename the Gulf of Mexico, we have the time to talk about one of the leading causes of death in our country,” Driskell told reporters.

 Last month, HB 759 passed in the House. 

 It would repeal some gun control protections made after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, including reducing the minimum age to buy a firearm from 21 to 18.

Democratic Representative Christine Hunchofsky represents Parkland.

“I hope that it’s done for this session, but, as we know, nothing’s done until we sine die. But I do sincerely hope that it is done for this session,” Hunschofsky told reporters.

Butne Hunschofsky hopes that after the FSU shooting, legislators will reconsider.

“I understand the pain and the fact that lives are changed forever when experiencing death and a tragedy like a shooting,” Hunschofsky said.

The Senate version of the bill has not entered committee. 

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A controversial Florida bill to reduce the age to purchase a rifle or other long gun from 21 to 18 will be heard on the house Floor this week. 

Democratic Minority House Leader Fentrice Driskell called the bill a betrayal to the families of victims of the Parkland school shooting. 

In 2018, the state increased the age to buy firearms from 18 to 21 after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that killed 17. 

House Bill 759, sponsored by Republican Representative Michelle Salzman, seeks to reverse that requirement. 

While presenting the bill In a subcommittee last week, Salzman said the 2018 decision was made in a moment of anxiety. 

“When you are 18 years of age, you can sign into a contract, you can get married, you can get divorced, you can join the military, you can be sentenced to death,” Salzman said.

Democratic Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell calls the bill reckless. 

“Both law enforcement leaders and survivors have repeatedly said that the 21 and up provision works. Yet this Republican legislature is willingly choosing to ignore those on the front lines, and the communities that are still grieving,” Driskell said.

She also questioned Republicans’ motives for pushing this bill. It was supported by the National Rifle Association. 

The bill is set to be heard on the house floor on Wednesday.

Also this week, the House will take a look at possibly overriding some vetoes from Governor Ron DeSantis.

The House will consider overriding vetoes for four projects totaling over 5 million dollars. 

Projects include water systems in Central and North Florida, veterans benefits, and staffing systems for the Florida Department of Corrections. 

Driskell said her party is glad the legislature is taking a look at the vetoes.

She said last year, DeSantis vetoed infrastructure items that could have made a difference for the Tampa area. 

“If those projects had been allowed to stand, then it’s perhaps that – or it’s possible rather – that some of that infrastructure that would’ve been greatly needed in Tampa Bay could’ve helped avoid some of the dramatic flooding we saw after we suffered those hurricanes last fall,” Driskell said.

During Hurricane Milton, areas in flood zones considered less prone to flooding received major damage.

Currently, Hillsborough County is undergoing an independent investigation of what could have gone wrong.

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A controversial bill filed for the upcoming legislative session would allow Floridians to openly carry firearms in the state, and it’s received scrutiny from both sides of the aisle. 

The new measure would allow people to publicly carry a gun that is fully or partially visible.

Currently, open carry is a second-degree misdemeanor with exceptions for law enforcement and people hunting. 

The proposal removes open carry bans in schools, colleges, and polling places. 

Cecile Scoon, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, opposes the bill. 

“We’ve had a lot of issues in the state of Florida with people being shot and feeling very uncomfortable walking around.” Scoon told WMNF.

She said the bill will escalate fears of gun violence in the state. 

“I believe in guns, but they just need to be used safely. We’re not saying ‘don’t have weapons and don’t protect yourself’, we’re just saying let’s all try to use them in the most safe way that we can.” Scoon said.

Florida Senate President Ben Albritton said he is against the measure, and police oppose it too.

The other measure is a proposal to lower the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns from 21 to 18.  

The age was raised after the 2018 Parkland school shooting that killed 17 people.

Republican state Senator Randy Fine filed the bill to lower the minimum age, but when it comes time to vote on the measure in 2025’s session, he won’t be there. 

Fine is running to fill the Congressional seat to replace Mike Waltz — President-Elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor.

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