Just weeks before a mass shooting at Florida State University (FSU) left two dead and five injured, a committee of the Florida legislature shut down a bill that would have permitted students to carry firearms for self-defense on campus.

Leon County Sheriff Walter A. McNeil identified the shooter on Thursday as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, but did not state a motive. Ikner and the five living victims have been hospitalized.

Ikner could have faced armed resistance from the student body, however, had Florida's SB14 become law. But the state's Senate Committee on Criminal Justice voted it down in a 4-3 vote in late March, with Sen. Ileana Garcia, R, voting with Democrats to prevent the legislation from advancing, Breitbart News reported at the time.

Florida currently is a constitutional carry state, meaning that residents do not need a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The state does not permit the open carry of firearms nor the concealed carry of weapons on public college campuses.