Authorities say a Utah sixth-grader caught with a gun at school told administrators he brought the weapon to defend himself in case of an attack similar to the mass shooting last week in Newtown, Conn.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that two classmates at West Kearns Elementary School reported the gun to a teacher toward the end of the school day Monday.
Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley says the teacher "immediately apprehended the student," and police responded shortly after.
Horsley tells KSL-TV that an unloaded gun and ammunition were found in the 11-year-old's backpack. Authorities have not released the child's name.
Horsley says school police are investigating reports that the boy pointed the gun at another child's head. He says such accounts haven't been confirmed.
State Senator Donne Trotter, 62, was in court this past Thursday after he was charged with trying to bring a handgun onto an aircraft, prosecutors said.
Trotter arrested Wednesday at O'Hare International Airport, where security discovered the gun in Trotter's carry-on bag.
His excuse to the police about the gun that was confiscated was the one he uses for his job as a security guard.
Trotter has a valid firearms owner identification card and a permit with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations to work as a security guard.
Trotter, a Democrat who has served in the Illinois State legislature since 1988, spent Wednesday night in police lockup.
Police reports state that Trotter went through security at O'Hare Airport around 7 Wednesday morning when a Transportation Security Administration agent spotted a .25 caliber Beretta in his garment bag via x-ray.
Trotter stated to authorities that he worked late Tuesday night at his security job as at All Points Security, packed his bag early this morning but didn't realize the gun was in his bag.
Trotter had previously announced he would seek the Congressional seat left open when Jesse Jackson Junior resigned-- making him one of more than half a dozen contenders for the seat.
Only days ago, Democratic party insiders said that Senator Trotter was the odds-on favorite to win the party's endorsement to be the replacement for Jesse Jackson Jr. Now that Trotter faces a felony weapons charge, that has clouded his political future
Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who used to represent part of the district, said it will probably make a difference in Trotter's chances in the race.
"As far as political, the people of the district and the party leaders have to make a decision to put a person with this kind of baggage in the answer in the Second District," Kinzinger said.
One political analyst says while this arrest might not derail his campaign, it doesn't help in a district that has already seen more than its share of controversial candidates.
"One doesn't understand how one can go on a plane this day and age," the Director of the Institute for Politics at Roosevelt University Paul Green said. "It will be used as an argument against him. It's something he did but not a knock out."
