A Eustis city commissioner says the city worker gun ban needs to go and wants to have the right to carry a concealed weapon at work.

Commissioner Anthony Sabatini says city employees, such as firefighters, currently are not allowed to carry a concealed weapon during their shift.

"Gun-free zones do nothing but protect criminals. They make criminals safe. They make all the rest of us unsafe," Sabatini said.

Sabatini brought up the gun ban last week, a day after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland that left 17 people dead.

"I had a lot of friends go to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and I was heartbroken," he said. "The first thing I thought of is, 'What can we do to protect our own citizens and our own employees?'"

Sabatini, who is running as a Republican for the Florida House of Representatives, says that if elected, he would work to pass a bill that would prohibit cities from having employee gun bans.

"We have a lot of employees who have a concealed weapons permit. In fact, right here in Lake County, we have 40,000 people with concealed weapons permits," he said.

"The most law-abiding demographic in Florida is our concealed weapons permit-holders. Those are the people who are going to defend themselves and others in a mass shooting. If you call the police, the mass shooter will already have done all of its damage before they even pick up the phone. What we need is people who can instantly respond to massacres," he said.

So far, the other Eustis city commissioners have voted not to consider any changes to the policy.

Sabatini says he will be bringing this to the attention of the 13 other cities in Lake County.