Mass shootingsGun training for teachers gaining in popularity

Two hundred  teachers in Utah are set to receive special firearms training —  with a plastic gun —  in order to carry concealed weapons in their classrooms in the future.

In the aftermath of the mass shooting  in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, gun training and gun safety classes for teachers are drawing attention.

Utah gun instructor Clark Aposhian told AP.”We’re not suggesting that teachers roam the halls” for an armed intruder. “They should lock down the classroom. But a gun is one more option if the shooter” breaks into a classroom.”

Aposhian, the chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, said they will waive the $50 fee for the training. The instruction will feature plastic gun and is to take place in a conference room at the Maverick Center, a hockey arena in Salt Lake City.

USA Todayreports that according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Utah allows citizens to carry concealed weapons into public schools without exception.. By law, Utah gun permit records are close to the public, so parents will not know which teachers in their children’s schools will be carrying weapons.

In Ohio, the Buckeye Shooting Foundation has more than 400 applicants from teachers, custodians, and administrators for a three day tactical defense course to be given in the spring. Jim Irvine, president of the Ohio foundation said the $1,000 fee for the Armed Teacher Training Program will be waived for twenty-four people  selected from more than 400 applications.

“What better use for an educational foundation than to help educators protect our children,” Irvine told USA Today.

Carol Lear, a chief lawyer for the Utah Office of Education does not believe that allowing teachers and educators to carry weapons is a good idea. Lear told the AP that there is a chance a teacher could be overpowered for their gun or that a gun could misfire and cause an accidental shooting.

“It’s a horrible, terrible, no-good, rotten idea,” Lear said.

In Ohio it is legal to bring a concealed weapon on school grounds if a school district has granted permission. Irvine thinks more districts in Ohio will allow teachers to arm themselves.

“School boards were just in denial. That denial got ripped away in Newtown, Conn. The idea is to make it hard to kill a kid,” Irvine told USA Today.

In Arizona, Attorney General Tom Horne has proposed amending a state law to allow one educator in every school to carry a gun.