The Board of Regents pushed back its vote Tuesday of whether to allow campus police to carry guns.

The regents voted to create a safety and security plan for the universities, which could allow campus officers to carry firearms.

The decision would mean ISU Police would have immediate access to firearms, which they have not had since the 1960s.

If the Board of Regents decides to arm ISU campus police with firearms, Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, said the Department of Public Safety would purchase enough weapons so “every officer would be equipped with one.”

“A gun would be assigned to each person and they would have the responsibility to clean and maintain it,” Madden said.

Madden estimated the cost of purchasing those weapons would be approximately $5,000. He said he believes the guns would be the same type the majority of state law enforcement uses, which is a SIG-Sauer P229 semi-automatic pistol.

Madden said he does not think purchasing firearms will increase the Department of Public Safety’s budget, which was $2.8 million during the 2006-07 fiscal year.

“The cost issues aren’t significant,” he said. “It doesn’t increase cost very much unless additional training would be needed.”

Madden said the purchase of liability insurance would not be a factor either.

“The state assumes that responsibility,” he said.

Many other issues will need to be addressed if campus security is allowed to carry firearms.

“The board office will probably be charged with the responsibility of writing the policy. We will be doing major research in coordination with the universities to come up with the best policy,” said Gary Steinke, executive director of the Board of Regents.

Some of the issues that will be addressed include liability, training and whether the weapon will be “regent-issued.”

The recommendations to arm campus police made by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy last week were sent to the Board of Regents to help the board make its decision. Steinke said although the recommendations may seem rushed, they are dealing with deadlines.

“The Legislature requested the regents institutions take a study of the arming issue, as well as arming campus security. The deadline was October 15.”

This is the only board meeting before the October deadline. The next Board of Regents meeting will take place on Oct. 30.

“To get that report and recommendations in, it had to be done at the September meeting. That’s the only real reasons for the timeline,” Steinke said.

Steinke said the best way to make a campus safe is to have a quick, efficient response time by reviewing plans, updating protocols and increasing student safety.

“Regardless of whether campus security is armed or unarmed, you cannot prevent something like what happened at Virginia Tech from happening,” Steinke said.

– The Associated Press

contributed to this story.