Tampa, Florida — The University of South Florida (USF) will now allow guns on campus, however they have to remain in a persons vehicle in accordance with new state laws.
Like most colleges and universities across Florida, USF has never allowed weapons on campus. However a new court ruling states that colleges and universities do not have the right or the authority to prohibit weapons, namely guns, from being stored in vehicles.
Ocala Post reached out to USF and media spokeswoman Lara Wade said, “In response to a court ruling last month, USF placed policy 6-009 ‘Weapons on USF System Property’ under review shortly after. As of Friday January 3, 2014, the policy has been amended to comply with Florida statutes. Additional amendments were made January 6, 2014.”
However Wade did state that the policy remains under review.
USF has in fact amended “Weapons on USF System Property”on their website under “Regulations and Policies,” to include Florida Statutes 790.115, 790.251 and 790.25(5).
The University of North Florida and Florida State University are also making changes to its weapon policies in order to conform to the new court ruling.
The changes across Florida came after colleges and universities were threatened with a law suit by gun owners, citing the colleges and universities were now breaking the law by not allowing guns to be carried in cars on campus.