As a white kid from the suburbs, I realize that I will be in very unfamiliar turf as I begin my career as a landlord.So, other than buying a gun that I carry at all times, never going to the properties at night, and screening tenants beforehand to make sure they don't have serious criminal records, what else can I do to ensure that I stay safe while managing these types of properties in bad neighborhoods?

Are you kidding me?

I have always told my kids that for your first home, buy a duplex or 4 plex and live in one unit while renting the other units out. 

a good tenant is one who can and will pay their rent and can prove it with references. be careful of the tenant that shows up with a fist full of cash and wants to move in today and they are have a U Haul attached to their car and 5 kids are bouncing off the wall in your newly painted apartment, their car looks like a dumpster and they are vague about the telephone numbers of their last two landlords. 

They can talk to their kid all they want, and tell their kid what to do.

I did that for about 5 years before getting married and having my first kid, and then my wife and I bought another house and kept the original as a straight rental.There are huge benefits to doing things this way. #1 reason is you get owner-occupant rates and you have to put WAY less money down!

I think offering a nicer rental will really put me ahead of the game, but I need to take into account how hard college kids are on houses.

I work full time 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM M- F, and have couple of kids they need my time and attention after work and weekends.

No need to get tangled up with someone who will have access to your pocket book and with whom you could potentially produce another living human being that would require time, energy and money.If you do this one step, you'll already be ahead of 50% of my tenants who got preggers/had kids out of wedlock and are now single parents trying to make it on a GED and a $10/hour retail job.P.S. 

I use to light my boiler by myself when I was kid....easiest thing ever.