Students received a crime alert e-mail Monday from the Vanderbilt University Police Department describing an armed robbery that occurred earlier that morning. A student was held up right outside Kensington Garage on 25th Avenue near Memorial Gymnasium, InsideVandy.com reported.

VUPD's response to the crime was swift and to the point. As is customary with major crimes affecting students or faculty members, the department's e-mail provided the necessary information about the crime, contacts for reporting information and "Risk Reduction Tips" for students. Community members can feel secure that the police are continuing their investigation into this crime, as they have for all similar incidents.

While Vanderbilt's police are reliable and generally keep our campus safe, the occurrence of this serious crime indicates our security situation is not perfect. Police officers, after all, cannot cover every corner of campus at all times.

Armed robberies are not overly prevalent on campus, yet Vanderbilt could be considered a prime target. Located in the heart of Nashville, our campus has a good deal of upper-middle class students with wallets of credit cards and cash, cell phones, iPods and laptop computers. Still, there may be a more convincing reason armed robbers may target our campus.

Tennessee state law dictates that no person may carry a firearm, open or concealed, on a college or university campus, even with a license. This effectively bans guns at Vanderbilt, except for those criminals who choose to break the law. Tennessee and other states with similar laws should reconsider campus gun bans.

If would-be criminals realized that along with all of the goodies, Vanderbilt students could also be carrying a handgun, they might think twice before stepping onto campus. Add the increased concern in the aftermath of campus shootings in the past two years, and it seems having licensed gun owners carry handguns on campus could greatly increase safety.

Simply the knowledge that students, faculty and staff could be carrying handguns may be enough to deter criminals from staying out of our community. Relaxing firearm restrictions should be the next step in a long succession of quality security measures for Vanderbilt.