Police and Safety feels that they need firearms to protect students and to keep this campus safe. I couldn’t possibly disagree more, and I’m a huge supporter of the 2nd Amendment. What sparked this whole discussion? Was it because of the suicide that took place on campus earlier this year? Many argue that the whole incident could have turned out much worse than it did, but guess what? It didn’t.

Maybe it was the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that started the discussion. The Sandy Hook shooting was absolutely tragic, but this isn’t the first time that a school shooting has taken place. Does Columbine ring a bell inside anyone’s head? Police and Safety has managed quite well here at Mercyhurst when it comes to keeping campus safe without firearms.

So I ask you, the students, why do you feel that Police and Safety should carry firearms? A whopping 34 percent of you (96 voters total, big whoopty-doo) in a recent online poll said you would feel much safer. Safer from what, exactly?

The odds of another person coming onto campus with a firearm much like the incident that happened earlier this year are slim to none. So what else do you need protection from? I’ll tell you what you need protection from, nothing. Absolutely nothing. But you want our security guards (I call them that because they aren’t real police officers) to carry firearms.

There are more chances of our glorified security guards accidentally shooting themselves with their own guns than there is for a repeat incident of what happened earlier this year. My solution? Tasers. Tasers hurt like hell and will subdue any individual that Police and Safety can’t handle with verbal action. Incidents will be taken care of and no one will need to have a 9mm slug removed from their body. And as for the “upstanding” men and women of our campus Police and Safety, if they want to carry firearms, they should go join a real police force.