… in the ankle.

Just read some more on this story and found some interesting quotes:

RIVERDALE, Utah (AP) — The police chief who shot himself in the ankle was waving a loaded pistol and being careless, according to two students who were attending his class to qualify for a concealed-weapons permit. “We were told the gun is the chief’s personal sidearm, but it looked to me like he didn’t know anything about the gun,” Lewis Walker said.

That’s interesting enough. I guarantee you that your run-of-the-mill frequent shooter at the range knows a hell of a lot more about firearms in general as a hobbyist than do some of those paid to serve and protect.

Bart Ulm, another student seeking certification to carry a concealed weapon, said he was surprised Chief Dave Hansen was using a loaded gun to show how it worked.

“Right then, I was very leery, because there’s no need to have live ammo in a gun in the class. But I figured he’s the chief, so he must know what he’s doing,” Ulm told the Standard-Examiner of Ogden.

Unless he’s showing you something that can only be shown with a round in the chamber, then yeah, there’s no reason for live ammo to be loaded up in that kind of classroom setting.

This also goes to a point - If you’re leery about your own personal safety … say something. It’s not insulting, given what could happen. Instead of his ankle, it could’ve been any student shot right between the eyes with a .40. If you’ve got a hunch, you should act on it appropriately and speak up. That’s not excusing the negligence at play here, it’s just a fact.

“I think Riverdale police are just trying to keep this quiet and act like the chief is a hero. But if you ask me, he’s really stupid,” Walker said. “His state certification to teach concealed-weapons classes should be taken away from him. This was totally gross negligence.”

Yup.