Campus Carry Bill Clears New Hampshire House

We’ve been covering a lot of gun control bills here at Bearing Arms in recent weeks, but we haven’t written nearly as much about pro-2A legislation. It’s not that we’re uninterested. Far from it, as a matter of fact. It’s just that right now the gun control lobby is in overdrive, and we’re honestly just not seeing as much action on the pro-2A side. 

Part of that is because most red states already have pretty good gun laws. 29 states have adopted constitutional or permitless carry laws, for example, and that seems to be ceiling for the moment. South Dakota has taken steps to improve access to suppressors with SB 2, but even that is a mostly proactive bill, and no red state bans their use entirely. 

If red state Republicans are looking for ways to strengthen the right to keep and bear arms where they live, one of the best things they can do right now is to eliminate as many “gun-free zones” as possible. New Hampshire took a big step in that direction on Thursday with House passage of H.B. 1793; a bill prohibiting public colleges and universities from enacting policies that block lawful gun owners from carrying on campus. 

“We in New Hampshire have made it clear: self-defense is not a privilege,” said state Rep. Sam Farrington, R-Rochester. “It is a natural right, and natural rights are not given by governments. They are granted by God alone.”

Farrington, a student at the University of New Hampshire, notched a victory on the House floor as his bill to wipe out college campus gun restrictions passed on a vote of 188 to 165.

“We hear college students are too drunk, they’re too immature, they’re too young to carry a firearm,” he said. “My question is, how can we allow them to vote, then? And how do we let them go fight in a foreign war?”

All but one of the House Democrats voted against the bill.

“Wouldn’t I hate it if the president of the University of New Hampshire had to write a letter home to a family of a student who may have been killed because of a mishandled weapon on campus?” said state Rep. Wayne Burton, D-Durham.

That would be awful, but it could already happen even with the University of New Hampshire prohibiting guns on campus. After all, we’ve seen shootings, both intentional and accidental at several colleges and universities where guns are banned on campus. 

Would Burton hate it if a college student was sexually assaulted on campus and couldn’t defend herself because university policy told her she couldn’t have a gun? How would Burton feel about a university professor getting robbed or carjacked on campus by someone who ignored the university’s demand to be “gun-free,” while the professor followed the policy for fear of termination? And what would Burton say if a deranged killer decided to murder as many people as they could on the UNH campus, and his targets had to wait for police to show up before anyone could fire back at the monster intent on mass slaughter? 

There are only about a dozen states that require public colleges and universities to allow concealed carry on campus, so this is one area where red state lawmakers can and should act. New Hampshire’s taking the right steps, but in states like Oklahoma and Florida the Republican majority has been reluctant to do the same. That needs to change, and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. 

Editor’s Note: Lawmakers like Farrington and others across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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