No police officers should have guns. Police should have phasers set on stun and forcefield shields. Barring that, police should have electrical shock guns or drugged darts or chemical sprays that are effective instantly at ranges up to a hundred yards. But none of those are available.

We are never safer than when we are in the presence of a trained, dedicated and armed police officers.

I don’t subscribe to “Guns don’t kill people, criminals kill people.”

The wide availability of firearms is a mistake that many have died for and that many more will die from. Guns kill people because people have guns and want to kill people.

But firearms in the hands of our police are the single best protective measure for our lives and liberty that we enjoy.

The public policy of requiring DPS officers to assume the responsibility for the safety of others while unequipped to safeguard their own safety is criminally negligent.

Ames is a safe place, a place where violence is shocking. Police here don’t need guns often. I’ll bet police in Ames haven’t fired guns on more than 10 occasions in the last 25 years. But I trust DPS and the Ames Police to exercise the highest standards of judgment in using firearms if they have the option. I don’t trust unarmed police to do their job well.

I urge Iowa State students to look at Columbine and other recent insanities when considering this issue. I do not claim that armed officers will prevent or minimize any threat to ISU, but that is a possibility. Arming DPS officers would drastically reduce threats to the safety of DPS officers and ISU students.

Jim Torrie

Resident

Ames