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Geopolitics

In Response To Newtown Shooting, Utah Teachers Get Free Gun Training

REUTERS, FOXNEWS, CNN, AP (USA)

Worldcrunch

SALT LAKE CITY - Gun-rights advocates in Utah have offered six hours of training in handling concealed weapons for teachers, in the wake of the mass shooting that killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

On Thursday, about 200 Utah teachers flocked to an indoor sports arena for free instruction in the handling of firearms by gun activists from the Utah Shooting Sports Council – who say armed educators might have a chance of thwarting deadly shooting rampages in their schools, Reuters reports.

The move comes after the National Rifle Association (NRA) proposed placing an armed officer at each of the nation's schools. Instruction features plastic guns and a major emphasis will be for people who are facing deadly threats to announce they have a gun and retreat or take cover before trying to shoot, the Utah Shooting Sports Council told Foxnews.

Clark Aposhian, president of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, clarified the group’s stance on the presence of weapons in schools: "What we're talking about is not arming teachers," he told CNN, adding that locking doors and hiding behind a desk "just isn't doing it anymore." "We're simply not taking away that ability of lawful self-defense within a school."

Gun control activists have criticized calls to arm teachers and said efforts at curbing gun violence in schools should be tied to tightening firearms laws. Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., told Reuters: "We think it makes a lot more sense to prevent a school shooter from getting the gun in the first place."

“It’s a terrible idea,” Carol Lear, the chief lawyer for the Utah Office of Education, told the Associated Press -- arguing that teachers could be overpowered for their guns or misfire or cause an accidental shooting. “It’s a horrible, terrible, no-good, rotten idea.”

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eyes on the U.S.

The Weight Of Trump's Indictment Will Test The Strength Of American Democracy

The U.S. legal system cannot simply run its course in a vacuum. Presidential politics, and democracy itself, are at stake in the coming weeks and months.

The Weight Of Trump's Indictment Will Test The Strength Of American Democracy

File photo of former U.S. President Donald Trump in Clyde, Ohio, in 2020.

Emma Shortis*

-Analysis-

Events often seem inevitable in hindsight. The indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump on criminal charges has been a possibility since the start of his presidency – arguably, since close to the beginning of his career in New York real estate.

But until now, the potential consequences of such a cataclysmic development in American politics have been purely theoretical.

Today, after much build-up in the media, The New York Times reported that a Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Trump and the Manhattan district attorney will now likely attempt to negotiate Trump’s surrender.

The indictment stems from a criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office into “hush money” payments made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels (through Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen), and whether they contravened electoral laws.

Trump also faces a swathe of other criminal investigations and civil suits, some of which may also result in state or federal charges. As he pursues another run for the presidency, Trump could simultaneously be dealing with multiple criminal cases and all the court appearances and frenzied media attention that will come with that.

These investigations and possible charges won’t prevent Trump from running or even serving as president again (though, as with everything in the U.S. legal system, it’s complicated).

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