On a warm September afternoon at Utah Valley University, thousands of students and community members packed into an outdoor courtyard to watch Charlie Kirk’s trademark “Prove Me Wrong” debate. Minutes into the event, a single rifle round from a distant rooftop tore through his neck, turning a campus discussion about politics into a national crime scene and a symbol of escalating political violence. In recent years, the question of whether college students should be allowed to carry firearms on campus has sparked heated debate. Opponents argue that guns and higher education don’t mix, that young people are impulsive, that firearms would increase accidents, and that academic environments should be sanctuaries free of lethal weapons. Proponents counter that campuses are not immune to crime and that denying adults their right to self-defense leaves them vulnerable. Both sides raise valid concerns, but the national conversation often misses a critical point: with training, vetting, and oversight, campus carry is not only feasible but essential to respecting students as citizens rather than wards of the state.
Colleges like to present themselves as secure bubbles, insulated from the dangers of the outside world. Unfortunately, the data tells a different story. Sexual assaults, robberies, and violent incidents remain a grim reality for many students, particularly women, and minorities who often face disproportionate risks. According to RAINN, 13% of all college students experience attempted or completed sexual assault during their time at school. For undergraduate women the rate rises to 26.4%. Universities often respond with increased security patrols or counseling resources. While valuable, these measures do not change the fact that police response times average 7–10 minutes in urban areas, often stretching to 10–15 minutes in high-demand cities. For a student walking home alone at midnight, these are timeframes potential assault victims simply cannot afford.
Despite the fact critics claim that defensive gun uses (DGUs) are vanishingly rare, a 2021 National Firearms Survey estimated that 31.1% of gun owners have used a firearm defensively at least once in their lives. The NFS estimated that 31.9% of U.S. adults personally own guns, which translates into 81 million adult gun owners at that time. There were also 1.67 million incidents of DGUs per year, with 81.9% involving no shots fired. Even accepting the lower estimates, DGUs number in the hundreds of thousands annually.
At the same time, a 2025 Rutgers study emphasized that DGUs are far less common than exposure to gun violence, finding that fewer than 1% of gun owners report a defensive use in a given year, compared to 11.6% who report exposure to gun-related harm. The key point is most incidents statistically end without a shot fired. That deterrent effect could be invaluable on campuses, where many safety concerns involve harassment, stalking, or attempted assault.
Survivors of stalking, sexual assault, or targeted harassment stand to gain the most from lawful carry. Most college students can already vote, marry, drive, pay taxes, and serve in the military. For these groups, a firearm is not about ideology, it is about dignity and survival. A 2025 study in Injury Epidemiology analyzed crime rates before and after permissive campus carry laws were enacted. The researchers found no significant increases in reported campus crime. States like Texas and Utah already allow some form of campus carry. Predictions of chaos and bloodshed have not materialized. Universities remain functioning, and crime rates on campus have not spiked.
At its core, the campus carry debate is about whether society trusts young adults to exercise rights responsibly. Universities pride themselves on cultivating independent thinkers, yet their policies often reduce students to passive subjects who must wait for help rather than take responsibility for their own safety. Most criminals prefer soft targets. On a dark street, a small woman facing a large attacker has limited options. A firearm equalizes that power disparity. A rights respecting, data driven approach to campus carry offers a path that empowers students, equalizes power dynamics, and treats young adults as the full citizens they already are.
This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the magazine as a whole. SpeakFreely is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions. Support freedom and independent journalism by donating today.
