In 2026, Republican lawmakers are once again pushing for the legalization of firearms on college campuses, a controversial move coming in the wake of several recent school shootings across the United States.
Just last week, a convicted felon with connections to ISIS opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion University in Virginia. The attack resulted in the death of a teacher and injuries to two others, before the assailant was stopped by ROTC cadets present at the scene.
In another tragic incident last December, a shooter targeted an engineering building at Brown University in Rhode Island. This attack led to the deaths of two students and injuries to nine others during their final exams. The suspect managed to flee the scene and later took the life of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in his suburban Boston home.
There is ongoing debate about whether an armed individual could have prevented the casualties in these tragedies. Proponents of allowing guns on campuses argue that armed students or staff might be able to halt such attacks more swiftly.
The scene at Old Dominion University was chaotic as bystanders were evacuated following reports of an active shooter on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Norfolk, Virginia.
Conversely, opponents of campus carry argue that introducing more weapons onto college grounds could elevate the chances of violence and accidental shootings.
Lawmakers will debate bills related to loosening gun regulations at colleges 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 guns on public college campuses. A similar state House bill, which is pending the governor’s approval, authorizes trained faculty and staff to carry on campus.
Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school’s campus in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Fla., who was taking classes at Florida State University in 2025 when a gunman killed multiple people on campus, said students felt helpless during the attack.
“You could tell from a lot of 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 happening.”
Lawmakers in Louisiana introduced a broad campus-carry bill that would allow any legal adult to carry guns on college campuses, removing higher education institutions from the list of gun-free zones.
Damon Thueson shows a holster at a gun concealed carry permit class concealed carry permit class put on by “USA Firearms Training” on December 19, 2015, in Provo, Utah. (Getty Images)
State Republican Rep. Danny McCormick, one of the bill’s authors, claimed the legislation would align campus laws with Louisiana’s existing carry law.
More than a dozen states already allow some form of on-campus carry, including: Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
However, the regulations vary from state to state.
Prior to West Virginia’s January 2023 decision to allow people with concealed carry permits to bring guns on college and university campuses, the presidents of West Virginia State University, Concord University and Shepherd University said they had “serious reservations” about what they alleged were “significant public safety challenges and financial burdens” the bill would present.
“Introducing firearms into this already challenging environment could have unintended consequences,” the presidents said.
They also alleged that access to firearms would increase suicide risks.
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