Two hundred and thirty-two K-12 shootings in 2025, according to the National Association of Pupil Services Administrators (NAPSA); at least 75 campus incidents in 2025, according to The World Data. From the age of 18 years old, you can legally register and own a firearm in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. This fact is already dangerous enough, but let’s throw in the recent push from a University of New Hampshire student for being able to have these firearms on college campuses, known as the campus carry bill, according to NHPR.
Although the right to bear arms is a Constitutional right, I don’t see the purpose or the necessity of having them on campus. Nobody is going to sit down in class, pull a shotgun out of their backpack and say, “Hey, look at the stock on this thing!” They are lethal weapons that have no need to be anywhere but in a safe place that can be reached in emergencies.
This also means anyone can walk onto campus with a gun and have no one to stop them if they were to try something, student or not. College campuses are sanctuaries, a place where living and learning are the only two things that matter. Plus, not smoking, but has anyone smelled the dorm hallways recently?
The good part of this bill is the part where it includes non-lethal tools, such as pepper spray and tasers. This I can support. Honestly, who doesn’t have one of these things on them by now? They’re as common as squirrels on this campus, anyway. The use of non-lethal weapons is just as effective at stopping someone as a gun would be. They’re just a lot more temporary than a bullet.
If you have someone chasing you or following you very closely, what’s going to be easier to grab? A shotgun or a rifle, the only guns 18-year-olds can purchase until they’re 21, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, or a small and lightweight object you can fit in your pocket and grab quickly enough before your stalker or attacker can react?
But with the everlasting problems of campus and school shootings, I understand the desire to have a firearm with you. The best solution I can think of is that to have a firearm on campus, you should have to register it with the school every semester. That way, if a gun is brought on campus, it is at least known.
A lot of other states do allow campus carry, but NH leaves it up to each school, according to NHPR, but NH is also a state where people are allowed to carry without a permit. In some sense, there is an understanding of why students would feel as if they have every right to have a gun on campus. But even if there were to be a shooter on campus, having a bunch of people running around with guns looking for the bad person would only confuse the campus police more and make them take more time in taking down the real shooter.
I don’t know how many people have been looking at the campus safety logs, but with how much is going on, I don’t think we need to have guns freely around campus on top of everything else. No offense, but we are all college students, after all. One party gone south could end up with a murder. A group of drunken friends walking around a dorm carrying a shotgun is not a comforting sight. I feel as if guns are more normal and accepted in our generation, and I have no doubt that a student wouldn’t hesitate to use one at one point or another, purely for enjoyment or personal gain.
There’s also the matter of students who shouldn’t be allowed near guns having one with them at all times. According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), about 1,100 college students committed suicide last year. Being able to finally be independent and have a gun is the worst thing a college can do, especially for those students who’ve had it rough and are looking for a new start.
This bill makes it much easier to bring danger onto campus, but it also makes it easier to make things less dangerous in certain situations; however, the real need for guns is seemingly not very large. While they are a Constitutional right, they are not a need, and even with the impending dangers and problems rising in this country, letting violence walk into our doors is not the way to solve them.
Hayley Doda can be contacted at
