Since the Las Vegas shooting, there have been many questions and concerns about guns. But the one thing that I am thinking about is whether Campus Public Safety officers should be allowed to carry guns. But the concept of armed cam- pus police depends on the campus. I think that it would be a bad idea for Linfield to arm CPS officers.

The first and only pro for CPS to have guns is if there ever was an active shooter on campus.

How else do you fend off an active shooter except with a loaded gun? But this would only be a true concern on a big campus, where having an active shooter is more of a possibility.

At Linfield, I have never thought of an active shooter as a real concern. Yes, I know people who have guns, but I do not know a single person who lives on campus and has a gun in their room.

I know one person who does have guns in McMinnville, but he lives off campus and has had military training on how to use guns.

But the cons to arming CPS officers would be possibly arming the wrong person. At most campuses, every member of campus police is a trained law enforcement officer. But at Linfield, not every officer is a trained member of law enforcement.

Some CPS officers were police officers. Others have worked in Sheriff

offices, and one officer was formerly part of the army. However, other officers have absolutely no training in law enforcement.

There have been several incidents over the past few years that make me weary of giving guns to campus police.

An incident occurred in 2015 at the University of Virginia, where campus police beat up a student by the name of Martese Johnson for having a fake ID. What would have happened if these officers had guns?

In that same year, at the University of Cincinnati, campus police shot and killed Sam Dubose for not having a front license plate.

Incidents like these are why I am wary of giving guns to CPS. All it would take is for an officer without proper training to turn an interaction with a student for a minor offense to a major incident.

As a student at Linfield, I think that giving CPS guns would not only be the wrong move, but would make me feel unsafe.

I have had plenty of bad interactions with CPS officers and if I knew CPS had guns, I would not feel entirely safe on campus whenever I see a CPS officer. I already feel uneasy whenever I see a CPS vehicle tailing my car, but giving them guns would increase my anxiety infinitely.