A gun organization in Utah is offering free concealed weapons training for teachers. The Utah Shooting Sports Council normally charges a $50 fee, but in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, they’ve waived their fee for educators. The instruction is conducted with a plastic gun and a major emphasis will be how to respond to deadly threats. Leading gun expert Clark Aposhian says people in this situation should “announce they have a gun and retreat or take cover before trying to shoot.”

Training teachers how to handle guns is a really good idea for a number of reasons.

1. Gun-free zones aren't good enough when psychopaths don’t follow the rules. Sandy Hook Elementary School was a gun-free zone, and Connecticut has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. According to that logic, Adam Lanza never should have been able to murder all those babies. Guns on campus weren't allowed, after all.

2. Arming teachers is the easiest, fastest, most effective way to immediately increase our kids’ safety. There are many things we could do to improve school security. We could install metal detectors, bulletproof glass windows, alarm codes on classroom doors, or even employ security guards to roam campuses. All of that will take a tremendous amount of time and money, and in case you haven’t heard, we’re kind of in the midst of a financial crisis as the moment. The teachers are already there, they already care about the kids, and many are perfectly capable of handling a gun.

3. Everyone should know how to handle a gun. Just because these teachers are being trained to carry concealed weapons doesn't mean they are required to carry them. The training alone is beneficial to everyone, especially teachers. What if there’s a situation where a gunman loses his weapon and a teacher manages to get a hold of it? What good is it if she doesn’t know how to shoot and/or disarm it?

4. Teachers are decent, responsible people. For the most part, anyway. Educators with concealed carry permits that choose to arm themselves at school know about gun safety. They’re trained, they respect their weapons, and they are responsible with them. They’re not going to leave them lying around by the pencil sharpener. We trust cops with guns around our children, why not teachers?

5. President Obama supports having trained and armed adults on school campuses. Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., where Sasha and Malia are enrolled, employs 11 armed guards. Shouldn't public school children be offered the same protection as those whose parents can afford to send them to elite private schools? It only seems fair.

Do you think training teachers how to handle guns will make our schools safer?


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