Students at the University of Maryland protested the guns with which campus police officers are armed Monday.
They marched on a central administration building to take their message to campus police Chief David Mitchell.
The department has 50 M-16 rifles, which supplies about half of the department.
The weapons are needed because of the nuclear engineering program at the school, Mitchell said.
“Federal law, as dictated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, mandates that whoever safeguards that material must be trained and armed with .223-caliber weapons,” he said.
Students also protested an armored vehicle owned by campus police since 2007. Mitchell said that’s to protect police and students from the line of fire if necessary.
“It’s not used offensively,” he said.
