Armed police on campuses makes sense

Efforts by two area colleges with religious roots to arm their police forces are regrettable signs of the times.

Last month, the Juniata College board of trustees voted 23-6 to allow its officers to carry guns, once they have obtained the necessary training. St. Francis University in Loretto decided last fall to arm its police department, but that process is on hold while the college searches for a new police chief.

While it might seem like an oxymoron for a college in Huntingdon founded by members of the Church of the Brethren and a university in Loretto with ties to the Catholic Franciscan order to have officers carrying guns, the numerous incidents of violence on college campuses make it almost a necessity for safety.

The last thing we want to see happen is a repeat of last year’s Virginia Tech massacre, during which a gunman killed 32 students and employees before turning the gun on himself, or the Valentine’s Day killings at Northern Illinois University that left five victims plus the gunman dead.

Neither of those campuses would have seemed as likely candidates for such atrocities, but they were.

There’s no guarantee that having armed police forces will be able to prevent a repeat of such tragedies, but the firearms give officers another tool should the need arise.

Ideally, the only use these guns carried by officers at area educational facilities will get is on the target range.

But should the unthinkable occur, we’d prefer the officers are armed and in a better position to stop the violence.