California's public universities and colleges possess an arsenal of military-grade equipment, including AR-15s, stun grenades, and long-range acoustic devices, under a 2021 state law that permits campus police to own such items for civilian safety. However, an investigation by CalMatters reveals that many institutions fail to comply fully with the law's transparency requirements, sparking fears among students that the weapons could be used to quash dissent.
Military Equipment on Campus
The 2021 law, authored by former Democratic Assemblymember David Chiu, requires campus police departments with sworn officers to publicly report their military equipment inventories and hold annual community forums. CalMatters examined reports from all 148 public campuses in the California Community Colleges, University of California, and California State University systems. The inventory includes hundreds of semi-automatic rifles, thousands of oleoresin capsicum (chili pepper chemical) munitions, and hundreds of thousands of rifle rounds.
Some campuses, such as San Jose State University and San Francisco State University, own AR-15s even though Cal State's policy does not authorize them. A Cal State spokesperson, Amy Bentley-Smith, claimed these are standard issue, exempt from reporting, though San Jose's report classifies them as specialized firearms. San Francisco State will no longer list its semi-automatic rifles in future reports, according to spokesperson Robert King.
Transparency Failures
Many campuses failed to meet the law's requirements. Chico State and Cal State Northridge send reports to the chancellor's office, but Cal State Dominguez Hills does not submit reports to any governing body, according to executive assistant Klarissa Garcia. Multiple departments, including Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State Sonoma, did not hold required public forums in 2025. Others held meetings but could not provide records of publicity.
The Cal State board of trustees has not reviewed the systemwide equipment policy since 2022, though it is supposed to be renewed annually. Bentley-Smith said the board only needs to check the policy if new equipment types are authorized. The community college chancellor's office does not track compliance, said communications specialist Melissa Villarin.
Student Concerns and Protests
Students have actively opposed the militarization of their campuses. At a January 2025 UC board of regents meeting, the UCLA chapter of the UC Divest Coalition protested the use of tuition money for military equipment. UCLA police deployed long-range acoustic devices, capable of emitting 160 decibels and causing permanent hearing damage, 71 times in the 2024-25 school year, all during crowd management situations. UC Santa Cruz used a similar device during pro-Palestine encampments in 2024.
At Mount San Antonio College, students learned of plans to acquire AR-15s in February 2025. Student César Tlatoāni Alvarado, a former student trustee, led a coalition that protested at police town halls and board meetings. “I knew for a fact that this was being done to silence dissent on our campus,” Tlatoāni Alvarado said. The college does not own semi-automatic rifles as of June 2026, and the discussion remains ongoing, according to Police Chief Kelli Florman.
San Jose State University owns 33 teargas grenades, not authorized under Cal State policy. Captain Jermaine Thomas said, “We will never use them,” and plans to destroy them along with a submachine gun. Bentley-Smith noted the submachine gun was never added to the policy manual because it was never used or requested.
Path to Compliance
Following CalMatters' inquiries, several campuses committed to full compliance. Compton College President Keith Curry discovered his campus had no equipment use policy despite owning semi-automatic rifles for over seven years. “Once I understood that it was not implemented correctly, I went into action mode,” Curry said. The board approved a corrective action plan in March 2025, including a policy, community meeting, and annual report. Curry also established three new oversight forms: a student committee, a community advisory committee, and a policy review taskforce.
Chaffey College officials also found they lacked a policy and passed one in April 2025. Cal State Monterey Bay updated its website with an equipment policy. Other colleges, such as MiraCosta, planned to reduce munition inventories to align with operational needs.
Tlatoāni Alvarado sees a growing trend of student resistance. “College campuses are a focal point for where our activism can translate into real-world change,” they said. “Colleges are trying to quash that dissent. But what they need to know is that there’s many more of us than there are of them.”
