Throughout 2026, the Granite State has seen the growing support and the creation of House Bill 1793, which permits campus carry in three college towns in New Hampshire. The Bill has passed through the House, and Gov. Kelly Ayotte weighed in on how she will view the Bill and make her decision.
In Depth New Hampshire reports that, “If passed and signed by the governor, the bill would prohibit public colleges and universities in Durham, Keene and Plymouth from regulating the possession or carrying of firearms and nonlethal weapons on campus,”
So while it doesn’t automatically give students the right to open carry everywhere on campus, it does revoke the right of the school to make rules around that. The legislation made its first appearance after the shooting at Brown University in December of 2025, and New Hampshire would only be the sixth state to sign similar legislation.
The Governor recently weighed in on the Bill. “What I can tell you is, obviously, I have not looked at the language that closely, and so I will look at it like all the other bills,” she said. “I want to make sure that whatever we do, public safety is paramount,” according to InDepth NH.
Elizabeth Chilton, president of the University System of New Hampshire, also shared the sentiment that safety is the greatest concern when talking about this bill. It is funny that both the Gov. and the president of the university system both claim to value the safety of students, but Ayotte will most likely pass the bill while the president opposes the bill.
My biggest qualm with the bill, as well as the response from Ayotte, is whether we know whose safety we are even valuing here? Let’s begin with the larger New Hampshire institutions. For those schools that are not in Keene, Plymouth or Durham, or do not receive any state funding, how safe are those schools compared to others? How can we say we value safety when it seems we only value the safety of students in these regions? If students decide to transfer or visit from other schools, then they would have to be briefed on the campus carry laws before setting foot on campus.
Also, these schools all have students from all areas of New England and even areas outside of New England, especially UNH. How are students supposed to weave around the different state laws that relate to open carry or even weapon possession? If I am a student from a state with much harsher open carry laws compared to New Hampshire and now New Hampshire schools, how would I traverse bringing a firearm to my campus that now allows me to bring it?
I am not even arguing the Bill itself, but I am advocating for the thousands of students who come from out of state and now have to navigate the tricky legislation that does not even cover all New Hampshire schools.
I can understand the idea and the goal of the Bill in a state like New Hampshire, which already has fairly loose open carry laws. But I simply can not understand the pushing forward of a Bill that is not concise and will most likely cause more problems than it will solve.
Jacob Enscoe can be contacted at
