Nevada College System Wants to Arm Faculty
Jonathan Humbert, Reporter
June 22, 2007 10:03 PM
The University of Nevada system is one step closer to letting professors, faculty and staff carry guns on campus.
It's a controversial plan that the Board of Regents agreed to on Thursday. Some students and staff are concerned it may not be the best idea.
The tragedy of Virginia Tech is still fresh in the minds of many in the collegiate world and campus police departments from Reno to Las Vegas are trying to find a better solution. But students are dumbfounded by the plan to arm teachers.
"So there would be no reason for a teachers to run around, just try to play hero with a gun," said Chris James, junior.
Still the Board of Regents plan would allow faculty take a 21-week course in Carson City. That class would cost more than $3,000 per person and the universities would pick up the tab. But it would use a legal loophole to essentially deputize the employee. That way they wouldn't break the law.
Right now it's a Class E felony to carry a gun on campus. Students like Zac Ingersoll have mixed feelings. As a former member of the military, he knows training is important, but 21 weeks of training might not be able to stop a Virginia Tech-like attack.
"It may get someone who just on a whim would do it, but most of the time, I don't think it'll do much," said Zac Ingersoll , junior. Both Ingersoll and Chris James say the issue isn't about teachers with guns, it's about loose campus security and the lack of officers on patrol.
"It would just be too crazy with teachers carrying guns around on campus. One of them might blow up and you never know what might happen if they start shooting," James said. Ingersoll agrees, saying training should be left to the professionals.
"And if they're trained in the proper response procedures to it, then I think a proper response is better than manpower," Ingersoll said.
And if the unthinkable happens on campus, these students want the real officers to be on the front lines. The plan will come up for a final vote later in the summer. Campus police also presented their changes for an active shooter scenario.
Campuses all across the nation have been updating their rules and students and faculty say this plan could jeopardize any situation, and even make a shooting more dangerous.
