It was a Republican who shut down this conversation. Unbelievable.

The Miami Herald reports.

Guns-on-campus proposal likely dead for 2016 session

For the second year in a row, a key Republican senator from Miami has all but killed an effort to allow concealed guns on the campuses of the state’s 40 public colleges and universities.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla confirmed Thursday that he won’t schedule a hearing on the controversial legislation (SB 68), which he also wouldn’t take up last session.

Without being vetted in Diaz de la Portilla’s committee, the bill goes no further in the Florida Senate, even as an identical measure is moving swiftly through the Florida House.

The bills — sponsored by Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, and Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota — are a priority for the National Rifle Association, Florida Carry and student groups that support allowing the more than 1.4 million people with concealed weapons permits in Florida to carry their weapons on public university and college campuses.

But Diaz de la Portilla said, “I don’t think this is a Second Amendment issue.”

“I think what we’re talking about here is campus safety, and the best way to address that issue, and whether the proposed cure is worse than the disease,” he said.

Evers, the Senate sponsor, told reporters Diaz de la Portilla didn’t talk to him about his decision, although the two had previously discussed the proposal.

“It would make a statement to the residents of Florida to bring it up and actually have a vote on it,” Evers said.