“Switzerland of Ohio Superintendent Larry Elliott [above] received a call last Thursday that a gun was found in a [female] teacher’s car at Swills Hills Career Center . . . Students were planning to do maintenance on the car, Elliott said, and that is when the teacher informed them that a gun, which was in a case, was inside the vehicle. According to Elliott, the teacher has been at the school since 1999 and does not have a disciplinary record.” So a locked gun in a locked car owned by a teacher without any known psycho killer tendencies who “claims” she left her gun in her car after a hunting trip. Should Elliott have A) asked the teacher to drive home and store his firearm or B) dialed 911?

“We immediately contacted the sheriff’s office, and the sheriff’s deputy went and immediately took the firearm into his possession . . .

Elliott said he does not believe anyone was in danger of harm, because the gun did not leave the vehicle and because school officials acted quickly. Still, Elliott said, disciplinary action will be taken against the teacher.

“It is very serious. We take it very serious — the safety of our students and staff. And there’s the expectation that the students will come to a gun-free and weapon-free school to receive their education, so even though it was an oversight by the teacher, it does have serious ramifications.”

Although it seems that the forgetful teacher was not a high-risk individual, Switzerland (Ohio) should all be the gun didn’t unlock its own case (Houdini-like) leave the vehicle and cause carnage. Thankfully, the only victim here was common sense. [h/t Totenglocke]

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48 COMMENTS

    • I disagree. The teacher is clearly the victim of others fear, stupidity, and pussification. There are knives in my kitchen, yet I don’t live in fear that one will kill me in my sleep. I have never in my life woke up to my SR9c pointing at my head all by itself. Why are people so scared of a hunk of wood, steel, and plastic? In KY, you may have a gun in your car, as long as its not brandished. An employer can not tell you otherwise, even if you use your car for work.

    • “Thankfully, the only victim here was common sense.”

      I also disagree. The teacher is/will be a victim of stupid, overzealous, “our hands are tied, it’s policy” zero-tolerance rules.

      • This is another example of why the Federal Government has needed to be toned down and taken down a notch or two.
        The teacher will probably have her life ruined over someone else’s idiocy!!

  2. Amazing. I grew up in the well known red neck haven of Rhode Island. I took hunters’ safety after school at school. Some of us used to hunt pheasant between the end of football practice (okay, in my case cross country practice, but all the cool guys ran cross country at my school, honest) in a field less than half a mile from the school. Occasionally accompanied by a teacher (same guy who taught hunters’ safety). We kept our shotguns in our cars in the parking lot. No one cared. It’s not like this was in the 1860’s, we’re talking 1985. When did we become a nation of morons?

    • I graduated in 1981, sites it wasn’t a big deal then. Remember riding my dirt bike thru the fields to school, with my .22 rifle in a scabbard tied to the bike. Left it in the lot by the building all day, no one bothered it, teachers would ask to see it because it was old(Stevens Crackshot Model26). We all went rabbit and squirrel hinting after school.
      Nowadays it seems like everyone in the school system has turned into a bunch of hoplophobic, liberal pantywaisted wuss’es. When I graduated in 81 all of our teachers hunted or had a gun in the home, even the lady teachers.
      Sad sad state of affairs in schools today. I hope she busts their chops with a good left hook lawyer!!!

      • What do you expect? You’ve got commie agitators/terrorists like William Ayers running the education departments at major universities. That’s where teachers are trained. Gramsci would be so proud.

        • Hard for it to go off since it was a single shot and I kept the chamber empty when riding!!
          And as far as accidental discharge?? The old gun ws pretty damn safe, never have had it drop the hammer by itself!!

  4. OMG run away, run away!!! Throw chairs, or things at the car, no wait the service tech, not wait at the trunk!!!

    This is so ludicrous and stupid. I am willing to bet the teacher will be fired. I for one would sue for wrongful termination. The gun was lock, and appropriately secured within the vehicle. It was never on the person as to which one might conclude a deranged rampage amongst the yoots.

    Asking politely for her to deliver the firearm safely home prior to allowing service to be performed would have not even made the news… But of course as you know people have to run and scream pull the fire alarms, and generally enter in a state of mass hysteria.

    • If she did something like tell a kindergarten class that there was no Santa and they were stupid for believing in him she would be fine. (That happened last week in Austin, TX.) If she made her class sit during the Pledge of Allegiance but stand for something called “The African American National Anthem” she would be fine. (That happened last week in West Virginia.) Tell her class that rich people are evil and should be urinated upon, she would be fine. (Last week in LA.)

      Leaving a hunting rifle, in a locked case, in her locked trunk? That’s a firin’.

      • It’s sad that because so many of these public school teachers have tenure, (read as the power of a deity) they can verbally shape kids’ minds into whatever twisted ways they want under the blanket excuse of “equality”. What “the books” say is all they know. These teachers like a bunch of little kids relying on “the books” to think for them, much like teachers in East Germany. It’s just weird.

  5. Unfortunately, common sense left our litigious society long ago. The policy is in place and discretion is not allowed. All it takes is one parent to hear about a gun found on school grounds with no police called and then have an apopletic fit. The media and lawyers would be called and the circus would follow. It’s just easier for these spineless administrators to follow the policy.

    A damn shame.

  6. When I was in High School in the 1980’s, we had students and teachers with shotguns and rifles on display in gun racks of pickup trucks in the parking lot at school. That was when you could leave your gun on the rack without someone breaking the window to steal it.

  7. I wonder how the auto maintenance involved going through a case, which was private, personal property.

    • Oops, I just re-read it and see the teacher informed them of the rifle. Still, the students wouldn’t have any reason to screw around with it. Of course with the pussification of America we have to assume that merely seeing a rifle would leave the yoots traumatized, requiring years of therapy and prescription drugs.

    • +1

      Exactly. So they basically opened her case, which was inside her car.

      I don’t know what to say, really, I’m at a loss of words…

  8. Here’s a question. Rather than blame a lack of common sense, does anyone think the superintendent feared a) the wrath of parents, b) school board, and/or c) insurance liability? Maybe its all the same thing: fear trumps thinking.

    • That was my thinking. School districts are frequently the victim of lawsuits by families – even over things as silly as “my student failed your class and it’s YOUR fault!”

      • And you sit have just defined the core of the problem with our schools and our kids.
        Parents that are too lazy to teach their kids and school boards who go right along beside them!!

  9. I teach in Ohio and the minimum sentence for firearms on school property is three years. I hope she only gets a misdemeanor, but if she gets a tough DA…

  10. I wonder if the authorities tried to safely disarm the g-g-ggun before removing it from the vehicle. WHAT IF IT WENT OFF??!!!!!!! IT COULD GO OFF!!!!

  11. I’m getting pretty tired of the “OMG texttexttexttext OMG” being the title of posts, 10 times a day. We get it, you’re being sarcastic. Can we move on now?

  12. It seems that Teach violated a federal law (Gun Free School Zones Act). Maybe a state law too? I hope that some time in her distant past, she taught someone who became a good attorney.

    • Ralph, I thought for certain the Gun Free School Zones Act was ruled unconstitutional in United States v. Lopez (1995). Right?

      So it must’ve been a state law.

      • GFSZA of 1991 was struck down, but it was subsequently reenacted with changes. However, there’s an explicit exception in the law for a firearm “that is (I) not loaded; and (II) in a locked container, or a locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle”.

        It seems that he violated state law, though.

  13. Wow, almost embarrassed that I live in Ohio. No F@cking common sense left in society, now know as Uncommon sense.

  14. If they want the students to come to a truly ‘weapon free zone’ then they need to stop issuing thick, heavy textbooks and ban all pens, pencils, shoelaces, belts, long-sleeve shirts, sweaters, jackets, backpacks, scissors, and all motor vehicles on all school property. All of these items can be used to seriously injure or kill students.

  15. Did the students get in trouble for opening her gun case?? Considering it was in her car and is therefore private property they should have been disciplined in some way!!
    Maybe Mikey Blameburg can give them a Case of 32 ounce sugary drinks for their heroism!!!

  16. What are the laws in Ohio, in VA you can leave a gun locked in your car in a school parking lot, it just can’t come inside the school.

  17. I retired from a public high school in California a couple of years ago. If you want to save the education system in America step 1 is to eliminate the Federal department of education which got started around 1980. Return the control of schools to the local community for a start.

    I don’t know who said it first, but it’s the gospel. ” I weep for the future of our country.”

    • +1

      I currently teach HS Chemistry. I’m REALLY tired of Federal-level dictates in education. Ohio schools spend about 11% of our budgets in maintaining federal compliance. We get 7% of our funds from the feds. You’d think someone at ODE would catch a hint…

  18. Thank you for posting this informative article.

    I immediately went to check the locks on my guns. I have long feared that my guns were trying to escape the gun safe. To give my family a little more protection from loose guns, I have installed cable locks through the racks and trigger guards of the weapons. Now, should my guns decided to go rogue, I will hear the cables being sawn. That should give my family time to flee while the guns work on unlocking the safe.

    • Sid: I think that’s a great idea, and admire your perseverance in securing your family’s safety. I’d like to do the same, but unfortunately I don’t have those little cable locks that came with my guns anymore. I’ve found that if you thread a piece of pipe through the cable loop and then hang the pipe from a couple 2×4’s, those locks make really awesome DIY spinning targets, at least until they disintegrate.

  19. And the National Socialist brain washer (public Schools) goes after a person who never asked to have her car searched. The stupidity of Schools is shown here.

  20. Ummm what gives the cops the right to seize a firearm that has nothing to do with a crime? OmG you had a gun in a car…..so we just take it? What bs….

  23. Was it loaded? A rifle? Was there ammo in the car? Do any of these male school administrators have a penis and/or testicles? Brains….wait, I know the answer to that one.

  25. Try to wrap your heads around this one: when I was in the fifth grade, a fellow student brought his dad’s M1 Garand to school for show and tell, and not one person who saw it had a problem with it. He carried it uncased from home in his arms and lugged it home the same way. The teacher locked it in the coat closet when it wasn’t on display. This was in 1972. On an Air Force Base. IN CALIFORNIA. How very, very far we have fallen…

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