A house bill was introduced on Jan. 7, 2026, that would prohibit public colleges and universities in New Hampshire from regulating whether or not a person is permitted to carry firearms and non-lethal weapons on campus. The bill, titled the “Protecting College Students Act,” or HB 1793, considers non-lethal weapons as “pepper spray, mace, stun guns, tasers, and other similar devices designed to incapacitate without causing fatal injury,” according to the bill text.
Many Keene State students don’t support HB 1793. Senior Amarrah Gates said that she feels the bill is “dangerous” and that she “hopes it doesn’t pass [any further].”
Gates said, “I think there’s already enough fear on campuses, and this would add to it. People will bring additional weapons in response to other weapons being here, and that would just add to any threats.”
Junior Sarah Stagg shared a similar sentiment and said that the bill would make students feel “more unsafe on a college campus where people are always doing something reckless.”
Gates also said that she worries about people acting irrationally in the “face of fear” and misusing their weapons in situations that could otherwise be de-escalated.
According to the General Court of New Hampshire’s findings, policies within public colleges and universities are “inconsistent” with the New Hampshire Constitution. The court found that “preventing lawful students from carrying only ensures that potential victims are left defenseless against unlawful aggression.”
The general court also said that colleges and universities were “restricting” students from exercising their rights listed in Part I, Article 2-a of the N.H. Constitution, which “guarantees the natural and essential right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property, and the state.”
Junior Caitlyn Baga-Greene said that she felt the bill was being used as an excuse for people who want to open-carry. She said that it could give opportunities to people who shouldn’t have access to firearms in the first place to bring them into academic buildings.
Baga-Greene said, “This [Keene State] is a public campus. It wouldn’t be just students–anyone could waltz in with a firearm here.”
In regard to the possibility of people carrying firearms while Keene State’s own Campus Safety is not permitted to do so, junior Jack Mahony said he doesn’t think it would be a good idea.
“None of them should have firearms,” he said. “I think Campus Safety carrying firearms would be a recipe for disaster.”
Stagg said, “Campus Safety is here to keep us safe and support us in all situations. If they’re not permitted to have weapons like that, I don’t see why students should either, because then there’s no one to defend us.”
Mahony said that some of the permitted non-lethal weapons, such as pepper spray, would be okay, because “you can’t do a mass shooting with something like that.”
Stagg said that she also felt there were better self-defense devices that people could rely on as opposed to firearms.
HB 1793 is a partisan bill with support from 10 Republican representatives and 4 Republican senators. The bill states that no public higher education institution would be able to enact rules, policies or prohibitions that would prevent people from possessing, carrying or storing firearms and non-lethal weapons on their campuses.
The bill would also make it so that no state or institutional permit or license would be required to do any of the aforementioned things.
According to the General Court of New Hampshire, the bill was passed in the House and has since moved up to the Senate as of April 30, 2026, with ongoing amendments.
Samantha Menard can be contacted at
smenard@kscequinox.com
