Weapons Policy: Brown University Is a Gun-Free Zone

As the manhunt for the individual who opened fire at Brown University continues it is worth pointing out that the buildings and grounds of the campus are gun-free.

Brown University’s most recent Weapons and Firearms Policy went into effect June 27, 2025.

The policy states, “The possession, use, or storage of Weapons or Firearms is strictly prohibited on all University Property and at University-sponsored events, except as authorized under this policy.”

The prohibition extends to licensed concealed carriers, barring them from being armed for self-defense as well. The only exceptions to the policy are University law enforcement, active and retired members of other law enforcement agencies, and “credentialed armed private dignitary security personnel allowed on campus at the discretion of the Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management.”

On Saturday, just after 4:00 p.m., an attacker with a gun entered a room in a Brown University engineering building and killed two innocents and wounded nine others. The gun-free policy did not prevent the attack.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.