New Hampshire Dems Miss the Mark in Defending Campus Gun Ban

As my colleague Tom Knighton mentioned in a previous post, the New Hampshire Senate debated a campus carry bill today. HB 1793 was actually approved by the chamber, but not before it was amended and considerably weakened. In fact, as adopted the legislation won’t allow any student or visitor to carry on a higher ed campus, even after it takes effect.

lnstead, the Senate voted to create a committee to “study the feasibility of allowing guns on campuses of public institutions of higher education,” while also adopting language that “notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary,” prohibits public institutions of higher education from enacting “rules, policies, or similar prohibitions restricting the possession, carry, storage, or lawful use of non-lethal weapons on campus” and the “possession, carry, or lawful use of firearms on campus by any faculty.” 

A half-measure is better than nothing, I suppose, though it remains to be seen if the New Hampshire House will go along with the changes. Democratic senators weren’t happy about the amended version of the bill, preferring to see the measure defeated outright and deploying some truly dumb arguments in defense of their disarmament agenda. 

Victoria Sullivan says your Second Amendment rights shouldn’t depend on “who lays claim to the soil under your feet.” By that logic, you should be able to bring a gun to the doctor’s office. To the courthouse. Anywhere. #NHPolitics pic.twitter.com/1A6V73Hdaz

— NH Senate Democrats (@NHSenateDems) May 14, 2026

Now, to be fair, Sen. Sullivan was also a little off base with her comment that the right to keep and bear arms shouldn’t depend on “who lays claim to the soil under your feet.” Private property owners can and should have the right to prohibit guns on their premises, though in a nation where the right to bear arms is protected by the Constitution I believe they have a duty to inform any visitors that guns aren’t allowed. 

When it comes to the State, though, it’s an entirely different story. If my doctor doesn’t have any issues with patients having their guns with them when the go to her office, why should the State be able to force her to ban the practice? 

As for property owned or leased by the State, the question is whether or not these places are “sensitive” and are treated as such. Courthouses are generally secured through a variety of measures, including limited access points, metal detectors and screening for visitors and staff, and the presence of armed security. 

You can’t say the same for the vast majority of college and university campuses. As Senator Sullivan noted, it’s entirely possible to walk onto the University of New Hampshire campus and have no idea you’re doing so. Durham’s Main Street cuts directly through campus, and there are campus buildings right next to private businesses like Insomnia Cookies and the Hop + Grind restaurant. There is no secure entry onto campus, and it would be impossible to create one. 

Even the vast majority of campus buildings don’t have special security measures like magnetometers or the presence of armed security in place. Lawmakers may claim that higher ed campuses are sensitive in nature, but they certainly don’t treat them that way. 

The amended version of HB 1793 adopted by the New Hampshire Senate seems to recognize that fact. It just doesn’t extend the same ability to act in self-defense to students that it grants faculty members. 

In fact, the bill doesn’t even allow full or part-time employees of these colleges and universities to carry unless they’re faculty members. Why should someone who works in a dorm cafeteria be prohibited from having her legally owned gun with her as she walks to her car after clocking out from her evening shift, while a tenured professor is allowed to have a firearm with her? 

I’m a believer in not letting perfect be the enemy of good, and the Senate’s version of HB 1793 is a modest improvement over current law, but I’m not thrilled with what the upper chamber did to modify the legislation. Frankly, I expect more from Republican lawmakers in the Live Free or Die State, and state senators failed to deliver a bill that will truly improve public safety for all those who spend time on campuses across the state. 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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