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Republican lawmakers have renewed a push in 2026 to allow guns on college campuses, amid a spate of school shootings across the country.
An ISIS-bound gunman opened fire last week in a classroom at Old Dominion University in Virginia, killing one teacher and injuring two others before being subdued by other ROTC students.
In December, a gunman opened fire inside an engineering building at Brown University in Rhode Island, killing two students and injuring nine during final exams. The suspect fled and later killed the MIT professor at his home in the Boston area.
While it’s unclear whether a citizen with a gun would have been able to defeat the shooters before anyone was hurt in recent incidents, supporters argue that armed students or faculty could have stopped the attack much faster.
Bystanders are evacuated from the campus of Old Dominion University after reports of a shooting Thursday, March 12, 2026 in Norfolk, Va. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)
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On the other hand, campus critics say carrying more guns on campus increases the risk of violence and accidents.
Lawmakers will debate bills related to loosening college gun laws in at least eight states this year — including Florida, Louisiana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
In Florida, a proposed state Senate bill would allow students, faculty and staff to carry firearms at community colleges. A similar bill in the state House, pending approval by the governor, authorizes trained faculty and staff to remain on campus.
Florida State University students wait for news amid the ongoing shooting on the school’s campus in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
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Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Fla., who attended Florida State University in 2025 when a gunman killed several people at the school, said students felt powerless during the attack.
“You could tell from the back and forth that they felt very helpless, and they wanted something. They wanted to help,” Salzman told WFSU Public Media. “They wanted to be able to save their friends, and they didn’t want to see this happen.”
Lawmakers in Louisiana have introduced a sweeping bill that would allow any legal adult to carry firearms on college campuses, removing institutions of higher education from the gun-free list.
Damon Thueson displays a firearm for a concealed carry permit class held at “USA Firearms Training” on December 19, 2015, in Provo, Utah. (Getty Images)
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State Republican Rep. Danny McCormick, one of the bill’s authors, said the legislation would align the agency’s rules with existing Louisiana administrative law.
More than a dozen states already allow some form of campus carry, including: Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
However, regulations vary from state to state.
Ahead of West Virginia’s January 2023 decision to allow people with concealed carry permits to carry firearms on colleges and universities, the presidents of West Virginia State University, Concord University and Shepherd University said they had “grave doubts” about what they said were “significant public safety challenges and financial burdens” the bill would introduce.
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“The introduction of firearms in this already challenging situation can have unintended consequences,” said the moderators.
They also suspect that access to guns will increase the risk of suicide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
