Once again the members of the Daily Editorial Board have chosen to keep their heads in the sand with regards to the issue of arming police officers of the ISU Department of Public Safety.

In their Sept. 4 editorial, the board recommends that DPS officers be issued tasers (short-range electrical stunning devices), but states that “guns don’t guarantee the safety of officials or students.” To be sure, guns don’t guarantee 100 percent safety; nothing does. But fully armed police officers are the best chance we’ve got.

The ISU community was fortunate to learn that last week’s reported “gunpoint abduction” was merely the product of a malicious imagination. But consider what could have been, or what someday could be. Consider if, on a busy ISU morning in front of hundreds of potential witnesses (or victims), armed attackers really decided to kidnap someone, or rob someone, or open fire into the surrounding crowd? Can anyone honestly say that they wish our police officers responding to such a call would do so without actual firearms?

Five minutes of waiting for Ames Police to arrive is a long time when lives are on the line.

It’s an unpalatable truth, but a truth nonetheless, that in the most severe circumstances, the only thing that can stand between innocent lives and grave danger is a police officer holding an actual gun that fires actual bullets. The police officers at our Department of Public Safety are as well-trained and dedicated as any in the state.

Thanks largely to their efforts, we are fortunate to attend a school where the crime rate is low for the size of the student population. That good fortune, however, should not fool us into thinking that a highly dangerous situation will never confront ISU students or officers.

Until DPS officers have the means to respond to a deadly-force scenario, the life of every member of the ISU community – student, police officer, or otherwise – is needlessly risked each day.

James Eucher

Senior

Biology