The Department of Public Safety is in the beginning stages of making a proposal to the Board of Regents about the possibility of purchasing taser guns.

This weapon, which resembles a gun, uses electro-muscular disruption to provide a non-lethal way of stopping an assailant.

Right now, DPS officers carry chemical spray and an expandable baton, so tasers would protect them and expand the kinds of situations they can respond to. It is an effective and humane way to react to dangerous or violent crime.

But in the same breath that tazer guns are mentioned, the possibility of officers having firearms is always mentioned. In the past, the Board of Regents has decided that DPS officers are not allowed to carry guns.

We realize the safety of DPS officials is an issue that needs consideration, but guns are not the best solution. Guns don’t guarantee the safety of officials or students. Iowa State is a safe campus because of the proactive preventative work of accredited DPS officials.

They deserve tasers in order to help them do their jobs well.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell