In the wake of Parkland, the state of Florida passed a number of gun control bills. While it’s generally been considered a pretty pro-gun state, they were reeling from the impact of the horrific events at one of the state’s high schools. They felt like they had to do something, and anti-gunners were pushing a particular something at the time.

The problem was, there were a lot of measures that would have likely had a much bigger impact that anti-gunners wouldn’t even allow discussion on, such as hardening schools.

Another way to reduce mass shootings as an issue is to have armed citizens in as many places as possible. A Florida lawmaker is trying to add at least one more such place.

A controversial gun-rights proposal that was sidetracked in 2018 in the wake of a mass shooting at a Broward County high school has again been filed in the Florida Senate.

Sarasota Sen. Joe Gruters, who is also the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, on Friday introduced a proposal (SB 498) that would allow any person with a state concealed-weapons permit to bring their firearm on any property owned, rented, leased, borrowed, or lawfully used by a church, synagogue, or any other religious institution.

Property owners allowing religious institutions on their property could still prohibit people from carrying firearms, under the measure. Florida law generally allows people to carry concealed weapons at religious institutions, but it bars being armed on school properties.

Now, that last bit is clear as mud, but my understanding is that it doesn’t extend the ability to carry onto other school campuses.

So, what would this bill mean? Well, we know that religious institutions are a favorite target for mass shooters. We know that schools are as well, so religious schools should be considered a particularly susceptible target.

Allowing people to carry firearms could be handy.

Perhaps more importantly, though, is that a bill like this allows congregation members at churches that also have schools as well can carry, which is the most likely reason for this bill in the first place. After all, this is a common issue many churches have run across. Sure, some ignore it completely, but most law-abiding citizens would rather comply with the law. I mean, the whole “law-abiding” thing is kind of a thing, you know?

Undoubtedly, anti-gunners will go on the offensive, spinning colorful and terrifying yarns about how blood will flow down the church aisles or down the school hallways, all without producing a shred of evidence to support their hysterics. What’s more, the media will run with these hysterics as if they’re absolute facts.

But Gruters’ bill is one that Florida needs. Hell, every other state needs a version of this bill if they don’t already have one. Armed citizens are the best defense you can have against mass shootings, as we saw in White Settlement, Texas not all that long ago. An armed citizen can be all the places a police officer can’t.

If you want to stop mass shootings, you put guns in the hands of any good guy who wants one. It’s just that simple.