A bill incentivizing concealed carry for teachers to assist with classroom defense passed the Utah legislation and is headed to Gov. Spencer Cox’s (R) desk.
KSL News Radio reported that the bill, HB 119, was sponsored by Rep. Tim Jimenez (R). If signed by Gov. Cox, HB 119 takes effect May 1, 2024.
A second school safety bill, HB 84, also passed the Utah legislature and it “would allow school employees, other than teachers and principals, to volunteer as armed guards.” As guards, the school employees “could work either in place of or alongside school resources officers.”
The text of the bill shows that HB 84 accomplishes these things by “[establishing] a school guardian program.”
The guardian program includes “training at a firearms range with instruction regarding firearms fundamentals, marksmanship, the demonstration and explanation of the difference between sight picture, sight alignment, and trigger control, and a recognized pistol course.”
HB 84 is sponsored by Rep. Ryan Wilcox (R).
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
