Keene State College Interim President Donald Birx, who also is president of Plymouth State University and lives at PSU, says he observes student behavior first hand and doesn’t think it would mix well with guns.

House Bill 1793, which the N.H. House passed and sent to the Senate, would end policies now in force at the state’s public colleges and universities that prohibit weapons on campus.

Supporters say HB 1793 would protect college students’ rights to self defense, particularly given incidents of on-campus violence that have occurred elsewhere.

But Birx told reporters and members of The Sentinel’s editorial board during a meeting last week that he hopes the measure is sent for further study rather than enacted.

He said a legislator reminded him that college students “are all young adults.”

“I said, ‘Yes, but you always got to remember that young part,’ “ he said. “Because fights break out. All kinds of things go on on campus, and if there’s guns added to that mix, it really scares me.

“We’re 100% against it,” he said about the bill. “Not because we’re against carrying guns but this environment is not the right environment.”

Tempers sometimes run short and raised voices are occasionally heard late at night.

“And people are having fun and partying, but sometimes partying can get out of hand,” Birx said, noting that students who have guns can lock them away in a vault maintained for that purpose by police but they aren’t allowed to carry them on campus.

He also said campus police would respond quickly in the case of a violent threat, adding that well-meaning but armed students would only complicate that response.

Rep. Sam Farrington, R-Rochester, a senior at the University of New Hampshire, is the prime sponsor of HB 1793.

In a news conference late last year, he mentioned a Dec. 13 mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, R.I., that killed two and wounded nine others.

Brown prohibits guns on campuses.

Farrington said gun-regulation policies like that “leave people defenseless” in the case of an active shooter.

“UNH, Plymouth State, Keene State, the list goes on, they all have one thing in common — these are public universities that are infringing on the Second Amendment rights of college students right here in New Hampshire,” he said at the time.

The bill’s title is “Protecting College Students Act.” The bill notes that the state constitution includes guarantees on the rights of people to keep and bear arms to protect themselves.

Prohibitions against guns on campus “are ineffective as a matter of public safety because they disarm responsible citizens while doing nothing to deter those who would commit acts of violence,” the bill states.

UNH Police Chief Steven Lee and Lauren Banker, director of government relations for the university system, submitted written testimony against HB 1793.

“We strongly believe that introducing unsworn persons with firearms into a rapidly devolving, dangerous situation would undoubtedly put students, faculty, staff, and police officers at greater risk because many gun owners are not trained in responding to ‘active shooter’ situations,” they said.

They also said they are concerned about the potential for an increase in suicides, while complicating security and creating financial burdens.

The House passed HB 1793, 188-165, on a partisan basis on Feb. 5, with all Republicans in favor, except three, and all Democrats in opposition, except one.

Its next stop is the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is expected to hold a public hearing in a couple weeks.

About a dozen states require college campuses in one way or another to allow guns on campuses, according to the New York-based nonprofit, Armed Campuses.

In New Hampshire, no license, permit or registration is needed to buy a gun. There is no waiting period for the purchase of a gun, and no permit is required to carry a gun concealed or openly.

However, guns are prohibited in a variety of places including courthouses, correctional facilities and federal buildings. Property owners and organizations can also prohibit weapons.

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