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September 11, 2014 2:30 pm - NewsBehavingBadly.com

A Utah teacher with a concealed carry permit accidentally shot herself in the leg at Westbrook Elementary on Thursday morning around 9:00 a.m.  The teacher was severely injured when the bullet entered and exited her leg, and she was rushed to the hospital.

[su_center_ad]Officials are still investigating how the gun discharged, according to the Associated Press.

Good4Utah reports, “Ben Horsley, spokesman of Granite School District, says the teacher is a concealed carry permit holder and was allowed to have the weapon on campus. She was in a faculty bathroom before school started when the accident happened.”

Horsley wouldn’t release details about the woman or what subject she taught, but he says she was carrying the weapon legally with a concealed firearm permit.

“No students were around her and no one else was injured. She was taken to the hospital in fair condition,” Horsley added. 

If needed by the students, the school is offering counselors to assist them. Granite School District police are still investigating how the handgun was discharged.

According to Utah law, teachers and anyone else licensed to carry concealed weapons are allowed to bring a gun into a public school.

H/T: The incomparable @CarlaAkins with thanks.[su_csky_ad]

D.B. Hirsch
D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

47 responses to Utah Teacher Accidentally Shoots Self In Leg At Elementary School

  1. juicyfruityyy September 11th, 2014 at 2:38 pm

    Lately, it seems that they should be more fearful of the teachers and instructors carrying a gun. Than an intruder.

    • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 3:08 am

      Well, not sure that would be an appropriate fear… let us look up how many students have been killed by outside shooters and then find the number of kids killed by a teacher’s weapon…

      • Carla Akins September 12th, 2014 at 8:27 pm

        Only two states allowed teachers to carry prior to 2012, beginning this school year there are 17 states and it’s not off to a good start.

  2. tiredoftea September 11th, 2014 at 2:46 pm

    “If needed by the students, the school is offering counselors to assist them” WTF! Dumbass gun fetishist shoots self, but students need counseling???

    • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 3:06 am

      I looked into the story, can’t find out much about the teacher. Am trying to figure out how much of a ‘gun fetishist’ the teacher is?

      • tiredoftea September 12th, 2014 at 12:55 pm

        Let us count the ways; Brings gun to school, shoots self in bathroom stall.

        • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 7:41 pm

          1 gun makes a fetish?

          • Carla Akins September 12th, 2014 at 8:25 pm

            It does if she feels the need to carry it while working at an elementary school. Why would anyone, short of a rancher out in the field in Wyoming have the need to carry a gun everywhere they go?

          • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 9:19 pm

            I don’t have all the facts… don’t know if she ‘feels the need’ to carry, if she was asked to carry(some schools are having some teachers carry), or what. So the ‘if’ part isn’t known, not sure saying she has a fetish as a statement of fact is accurate.

          • Carla Akins September 12th, 2014 at 9:42 pm

            She wasn’t asked, she has a conceal carry license and in Utah neither the school administration nor a parent may ask if the a school employee, including teachers are carrying a weapon. Someone that feels a personal need to armed in a classroom of third graders has an issue. Call it a fetish, paranoia or just outright arrogance – it’s not mentally healthy and she’s in a classroom with children.

          • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 10:42 pm

            I bet she was more concerned about an outside shooter coming in(it has happened before, correct? so it is not so far fetched….) than the 3rd graders in her class. Just a hunch.

          • Carla Akins September 13th, 2014 at 12:05 am

            Fine, your kid can go to school there.

          • Spirit of America September 13th, 2014 at 12:08 am

            🙂

          • tiredoftea September 12th, 2014 at 8:50 pm

            Uh, yeah.

          • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 9:20 pm

            interesting redefining of the word fetish… 🙂

          • tiredoftea September 12th, 2014 at 9:22 pm

            More interesting is the continued perversion of the 2nd Amendment.

          • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 9:38 pm

            🙂

  3. Mike N. September 11th, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    And this story comes on the heels of the Missouri legislature overriding the Governor’s veto of a bill allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons in schools.

    • Carla Akins September 11th, 2014 at 8:44 pm

      but a woman seeking an abortion, now has to wait three days.

      • Mike N. September 11th, 2014 at 8:53 pm

        AND now a 19 year old can get a concealed carry permit (because we all know how responsible and rational 19 year olds are) ….

      • M D Reese September 11th, 2014 at 9:46 pm

        Well, lady parts are scary and dangerous! Guns are just tools.

        • Carla Akins September 12th, 2014 at 4:46 am

          I had not realized until just recently how true this must be.

  4. Carla Akins September 11th, 2014 at 2:59 pm

    For those of you keeping count, this would be the 2nd unintentional shooting from a teacher with an enhanced carry license – specially trained to keep our children safe in schools – since Sept 1,2014. Yep 11 days.

    • Roctuna September 11th, 2014 at 8:05 pm

      Thanks for keeping count. What are the odds on someone besides the advanced- carrying idiot being a victim? One in three? One in four? You will know the odds when the first unfortunate victim falls.

    • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 3:05 am

      How many in last 10 years total, any numbers on that?

      • Carla Akins September 12th, 2014 at 4:29 am

        Since the push to arm teachers began two and a half years ago, legislature in many states has just recently begun – their is not sufficient data. Guns have no place in schools on anyone.

        To think that accidents won’t happen, or that kids aren’t wiley enough to put their hands on them is ridiculously unrealistic. Your child has a 1 in 7 million chance of being killed and a 1 in 14 of being injured in a school mass shooting.

        Stronger regulations on who can place their hands on a gun in the first place serves the public safety far more than arming a teacher already struggling to keep an unruly group of kids in line, and engaged while overcoming everything we expect teachers to miraculously cure in the classroom.

        • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 8:52 am

          Ok, then do we know how many kids have been killed, or injured, by an accidental shooting by a gun-carrying teacher?

          “…we expect teachers to miraculously cure in the classroom.”
          I don’t expect teachers to ‘cure’ anything, I believe in good parenting.

          • Carla Akins September 12th, 2014 at 12:15 pm

            There have been three shootings by teachers carrying in the school that they worked in the last two weeks – they are still in the news. There may be more, I was commenting on the three cases reported since Sept 1 in the news. I’m not sure what “good parenting” has to do with expecting teachers to keep our children safe from school mass shooters but I believe the same.

          • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 7:40 pm

            I was trying to say I don’t expect teachers to do miracles w/the kids, that’s the parents job. Teachers teach, parents raise the kids, if all did their part, would work out.

          • Carla Akins September 12th, 2014 at 8:20 pm

            Gotcha.

  5. Abby Normal September 11th, 2014 at 3:09 pm

    “According to Utah law, teachers and anyone else licensed to carry
    concealed weapons are allowed to bring a gun into a public school.”

    What more proof do we need? The entire state of Utah is INSANE.

  6. whatthe46 September 11th, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    so stupid… “a Kansas insurance company announced plans not to insure school districts with armed employees. Two other insurers of school districts have also decided not to cover liabilities related to concealed firearms on campus.” it won’t be long before this happens everywhere. no one should be comfortable with teachers carrying guns in schools. soooooo soooo stupid.

    • M D Reese September 11th, 2014 at 9:45 pm

      This is good news.

  7. Larry Schmitt September 11th, 2014 at 3:42 pm

    If you’re a parent of a student at that school, that gives you loads of confidence in the staff. Exactly what kind of training is required by Utah to get a carry permit?

    • whatthe46 September 11th, 2014 at 3:50 pm

      it wouldn’t matter to me the form of training. cops are trained and still shoot themselves too.

    • Jack E Raynbeau September 13th, 2014 at 8:48 am

      A four hour class. No live fire required.

  8. Teddy Simon September 11th, 2014 at 4:39 pm

    Just because someone can get CCW permit doesn’t mean they should . In most states you can get one without ever firing a gun

    • FieryLocks September 11th, 2014 at 8:18 pm

      Or…

      http://imageshack.com/f/0gheterostoopidshooterj

      • M D Reese September 11th, 2014 at 9:44 pm

        That is horrible–for a thousand reasons, not the least of which is the baby’s hearing.

        • Spirit of America September 12th, 2014 at 2:59 am

          If it isn’t staged it is horrible. Its origins are of dubious integrity though.

  9. majii September 11th, 2014 at 8:08 pm

    If more people understood the kinds of kids that show up in public schools today, they wouldn’t be so quick to endorse arming teachers. I’m retired now, but in my 33 years in high school classrooms, I taught kids who had been found guilty of gang-banging, sexual assault, weapons possession, battery, theft, burglary, drug possession and use, etc. If these “trusting” individuals think having arms in a teacher’s classroom is a good idea and can be used to deter a school shooter, they need to think again. I taught some kids who had a straight-up criminal mindset. These types of kids are sitting in classrooms across the nation, and if anyone thinks some of them won’t try getting their hands on a teacher’s weapon, they’re nuts. Some of my students broke into my locked file cabinet and not only stole my money but they stole hundreds of dollars from the club I sponsored. This didn’t happen only one time, and I wasn’t the only teacher it happened to.

    I remember one of my students who dropped out and later murdered her girlfriend because she wanted to leave her. She killed her when the girlfriend and her aunt showed up at an apartment the two shared to get her belongings. The victim’s little kid also witnessed her mom’s murder. Another of my students broke into a local business with some of his buddies and killed one of its’ workers. These are just two of the many examples of the types of kids in our classrooms today. Based on my experience in dealing with kids like these two is the reason I have strong reservations about arming classroom teachers. These criminally-minded kids are sharp, and if an opportunity to get their hands on a teacher’s gun arises, they’ll take it. I have no doubts in my mind about this.

    • Suzanne McFly September 11th, 2014 at 8:15 pm

      I just started in the classroom and I have encountered many students who fit your descriptions and I have worked in multiple schools as a sub/intern and I have seen troubled kids in poor as well as well-off neighborhoods. I am completely against guns in the classroom, I earned degrees to teach, not shoot.

  10. eddie1247 September 11th, 2014 at 8:21 pm

    I’m telling you there was a poisonous spider crawling up my leg, but I showed him.

  11. M D Reese September 11th, 2014 at 9:11 pm

    I’m glad that for once, only the responsible gun owner was injured. I hope that schools rethink their guns-everywhere policy.

  12. mmaynard119 September 12th, 2014 at 11:08 am

    If you had to live in Willard land, you’d probably want to shoot yourself too.