Don’t Bring Your Guns to Campus, Son
To some people, a cop without a gun makes about as much sense as a college town without a decent bar. Perhaps it is fitting, then, that Princeton University, located in fun free Princeton, New Jersey, has recieved permission from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to keep its public safety officers gun free. According to an article in the Daily Princetonian, the Public Safety Fraternal Order of Police union complained that not having guns was an occupational hazard, and OSHA was like, naw.
The university says that the Township and Borough police have plenty enough guns to protect the eating clubs and croquet matches, and I can't help but agree. Having lived a solid percentage of my life in Princeton, I can attest that there are about 30 police officers for every one citizen, and that they are more than happy to chase you if you are drinking beer in a graveyard. I mean, I heard about that happening. To someone I know. Who isn't me.
James Lanzi, the president of the Public Safety FOP, who filed the gun complaint, has some genuine concerns:
I think that it's a philosophical approach on the University. If you looked geographically, the Borough and the Township police do not know our buildings sufficiently to respond. It will take them more time to respond," he said. "Time is life."
Of course, after Virginia Tech, one can be forgiven for wanting to have more security on campus, though it is far from certain that having more GUNS on campus is really the solution we need to prevent disaster. Now that the DC gun ban has been overturned, and even Barack Obama agrees that everyone and their cousin should be allowed to keep a gun in their house, it is almost gratifying to see a University maintain its autonomy as a gun-free zone. Nevertheless, it seems that Princeton will lose the benefit of at least one future genius. Pity.
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July 9th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
“i” before “e”, except after “c.”
July 9th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Personally, I find it very strange that private police forces are granted the same powers as public police forces. Take for example the police at Harvard or Yale, and a number of other private schools. Granted, school safety should be a concern, but it should be even more troubling that an armed body does not answer directly to the public but rather to a private board of trustees. in some situations, these private police forces have powers of arrest on public thoroughfares, meaning that a citizen is under a police jurisdiction that is funded by private money. maybe no one else finds this ominous, but i certainly do.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Ominous, Tully? Seriously, I think if Harvard was planning a huge take-over of the Boston area, they would have done so a long long time ago, back when being in the Ivy League really “meant” something (ie, that you were best buddies with the country’s richest, most powerful people)
July 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Meanwhile, nobody at Yale would want to take over the New Haven area in the first place. S’all good.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
“My kids will NEVER go to Princeton”
…yeah, we knew that.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I’d give this article a C- if it weren’t for the link. It is hilarious is read some of the things on there.
Columbia Public Safety doesn’t carry guns either, and they have absolutely no power. I think it’s more of a matter of the NYPD not allowing it than anything else.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I’d feel safer if competent security personnel were armed more, and unstable and violent personalities were armed less.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
@SpeakoftheDevil
I hardly think that the Harvard PD are going to stage a coup in Boston, but private police forces only serve to extend the police state into all reaches of society. Under the banner of safety, we have legitimized a society that has no genuine private sphere. Well, at least the global markets are starting to unravel thanks to the oil crisis.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Hold it, kids. Did I catch a kudos to Princeton for disagreeing with Barack? I thought all the college kids were Obama-obsessed. Are we sure that “Andrew Martin” is actually a recent alum? If he were, wouldn’t he be personally handing guns to everyone AND everyone’s cousin? Can it be that Ivy Gate—or, worse, the Ivy League—has been infiltrated?
Andrew, we’re onto your tricks.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Andrew Martin is a Columbia alum, not a Princeton alum. Presumably he grew up in Princeton or at least lived their for a few years (”Having lived a solid percentage of my life in Princeton”) but did not go to the University. As an ‘08 Princeton grad, I am totally disgusted that the pathetic public safety officers are trying to bring danger onto campus. Yes, there’s been some more gang activity in the Borough and Township and even on campus, but I don’t think that public safety having guns would cut down on the occasional room or car break-in. And the Blackbox incident? That would have been worse had DPS drawn its guns. On a campus as serene as Princeton, guns are the last thing (other than more money or more squirrels) that the campus needs.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
[...] Andrew Martin wrote a fantastic post today on “Donâ
April 19th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
The Blackbox incident would be worse if DPS had drawn? What are you talking about? Criminals believed to be gang members assaulted a woman, then fled the law. If public safety had shot these people, then there would be fewer criminals running around in society.