Five UC campuses including UCLA, Irvine, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and San Francisco submitted requests for new weapons, while Berkeley, Davis, Merced, Riverside, and Santa Cruz did not. UC San Diego asked for 5,000 new 5.56mm caliber rifle rounds, citing training needs. UC Irvine requested 1,500 Pepper Ball projectiles. UCLA’s police requested four new Pepper Ball launchers and 100 sponge foam rounds. California law requires agencies to file annual reports on military-grade equipment purchases. UC President James B. Milliken presented the requests to the Board of Regents, which approved them with the justification that such tools would be used sparingly and only to protect lives during incidents requiring force. Faculty and civil rights advocates argue the move undermines campus safety and erodes trust. Shover, a medical and public health faculty member, said he has no confidence that more munitions will make campuses safer, pointing to last year’s UCLA protests as evidence. He warned that deploying less-lethal rounds against students exercising their First Amendment rights would only escalate tensions. The decisions come as the Trump administration pressures UCLA to restrict protests and campus speech in exchange for the release of frozen federal research funding. Critics say the combination of federal pressure and increased weaponization has created a chilling effect on academic freedom and student expression. From my perspective, America is moving too quickly toward limiting free speech. History shows that suppressing the voices of the younger generation never ends well. Today’s students are connected, vocal, and unified through social media and the internet. Attempts to silence them through fear, force, or intimidation will only create stronger opposition. The youth are awake, aware, and unwilling to surrender their right to protest. Efforts to muzzle free speech will ultimately fail.