BLOUNT COUNTY, AL – A substitute teacher at Blountsville Elementary School in Blount County, Alabama, has been arrested after his gun discharged accidentally in the first grade classroom where he was teaching. Henry Rex Weaver, 74, reportedly had the gun in his pocket when it discharged.
Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey said one student was struck by a fragment and checked out by the school nurse. An Alabama Media Group report said Weaver is charged with reckless endangerment, third-degree aggravated assault and possession of a firearm on school grounds.
Alabama is one of a handful of states that will allow school administrators to carry guns on school property, given the employee qualifies for the newly created Alabama Sentry Program, wherein school administrators would need approval from their county sheriff, local superintendent and school board, to have firearms to respond to school shootings.
Opponents of the program, which was passed through an executive memo last summer by Gov. Kay Ivey, point to incidents such as this one in Blount County as a reason why teachers should not have guns in the classroom. However, the Alabama Sentry Program includes administrators, not teachers.
The Alabama chapter of Moms Demand Action, a group that calls for gun reform, posted on its Facebook page: “There is no evidence that arming teachers or other school staff or administrators will protect children in schools. School officials have other jobs they are meant to be doing. They aren’t trained sharpshooters and don’t have ongoing training.”
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