A proposal to allow Lakeland’s professional security staff to carry guns while on duty seems likely to be passed in the upcoming weeks by administrators.

One of the administrators in charge of passing it, Vice President of Student Development Nate Dehne, called the topic, “politically and emotionally charged.”

Several of the Mirror editors have taken different positions on the issue. We’ve discussed it, but no one has moved far from their respective positions.

Some of us are allied with Alexa Galloway, the young woman who wrote the letter to the editor on the next page.

Those people believe Lakeland is just too safe and too in the middle of nowhere for its security to have guns. They also believe passing the proposal will actually raise the chances of harm coming to students and will needlessly waste college money on expensive guns.

I disagree with that thinking.

This campus definitely is safe and there is no reason to think it won’t stay that way.

But places like Columbine and Virginia Tech were also considered generally safe before rogue gunmen went on shooting rampages that took countless lives.

A shooting rampage like one of these will almost surely never happen at Lakeland.

However, Lakeland administrators can’t ensure that.

They can, but, ensure they take every precautionary step they can now to minimize potential danger.

Arming Lakeland’s professional security staff certainly does that.

It does that in a way Lakeland people can trust will not cause harm. Off campus, we arm our law enforcers and trust them to protect us responsibly. We can have the same trust here.

And no matter how substantial the amount of money Lakeland must spend to arm security, that money will be well spent if it minimizes potential tragedy.