Controversy as 200 Utah teachers to be given concealed weapons training in wake of Sandy Hook

[QuietDan]

'It's a horrible, terrible, no-good, rotten idea.':

Controversy as 200 Utah teachers

to be given concealed weapons training

in wake of Sandy Hook

 

 

By James Nye

 

PUBLISHED: 17:32 EST, 26 December 2012 | UPDATED: 17:37 EST, 26 December 2012

Utah lawmakers have reacted with contempt for a planned weapons training convention to be held for 200 Utah teachers tomorrow.

 

The Utah Shooting Sports Council has said they usually gather around a dozen teachers each year for training to carry concealed weapons but this year demand skyrocketed after the tuition was offered for free.

 

The powerful lobby claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut has been the catalyst for the massive interest, but Carol Lear, a chief lawyer for the Utah Office of Education said that the move was a 'terrible idea.'

 

Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council said 'They should lock down the classroom. But a gun is one more option if the shooter comes in.'

 

Arguing that teachers could be overpowered for their guns or misfire causing an accidental shooting, Lear said: 'It's a horrible, terrible, no-good, rotten idea.'

 

More than 200 Utah teachers are expected to pack a convention hall on Thursday for six hours of concealed-weapons training as organizers seek to arm more educators in the aftermath of the school shooting carried out by Adam Lanza in which 27 people, including 20 first-grade children died.

 

The Utah Shooting Sports Council said it normally gathers a dozen teachers every year for instruction that's required to legally carry a concealed weapon in public places. The state's leading gun lobby decided to offer teachers the training at no charge to encourage turnout, and it worked.

 

Organizers who initially capped attendance at 200 were exceeding that number by Wednesday and scrambling to accommodate an overflow crowd.

 

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

 

'Schools are some of the safest places in the world, but I think teachers understand that something has changed - the sanctity of schools has changed,' Clark Aposhian, one of Utah's leading gun instructors, said Wednesday.

'Mass shootings may still be rare, but that doesn't help you when the monster comes in.'

 

Gun-rights advocates say teachers can act more quickly than law enforcement in the critical first few minutes to protect children from the kind of shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead December 14th at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

 

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

 

Utah Office of Education officials have gone on the record to call the training 'A terrible idea'

 

Educators say Utah legislators left them with no choice but to accept some guns in schools. State law forbids schools, districts or college campuses from trying to impose their own gun restrictions.

 

'We're not suggesting that teachers roam the halls for a monster,' said Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council.

 

'They should lock down the classroom. But a gun is one more option if the shooter comes in.'

A major emphasis of the required safety training is that people facing deadly threats should announce they have a gun and retreat or take cover before trying to shoot, he said.

 

Utah is among few states that let people carry licensed concealed weapons into public schools without exception, the National Conference of State Legislatures says in a 2012 compendium of state gun laws.

 

Utah educators say they would ban guns if they could and have no way of knowing how many teachers are armed.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253497/Its-terrible-idea-Controversy-200-Utah-teachers-given-concealed-weapons-training-wake-Sandy-Hook.html#ixzz2GGEFv0jy

Edited December 27, 2012 by QuietDan

[E4 No More]

"A major emphasis of the required safety training is that people facing deadly threats should announce they have a gun and retreat or take cover before trying to shoot, he said."


So, the "monster" gets to know which teachers are armed so he/she can move on to the classroom that has an unarmed teacher in it? Oh, that's just brilliant!!! Edited December 27, 2012 by SWJewellTN

[subsonic]

It's my understanding (based on a lengthy article posted on another thread here) that Utah already allows CCW for teachers. The author has an extensive background in firearms sales (including military and law enforcement) and as a CCW and tactical instructor and has taught many teachers there at no cost.

[Jonnin]

CYA is always added to any gun training.   You cannot attend any reputable class without a little bit of it thrown in, in whatever format.   Its dumb, and no sane person would really actually DO that (yell they have a gun to draw attention/fire)  but it allows them do continue to provide this service by pointing out such "training" as "enhanced safety" and so on.

[Guest bkelm18]

If I decided that I could improve my advantage and/or take the shooter's attention away from shooting at people by yelling "I've got a gun", then yes I would. I would also do my best to use any cover available. I'm certainly not going to be standing in the open when the confrontation begins. These are teachers, not SEAL Team 6.

[Caster]

I Wonder what the media will say if there's an attempted shooting there but the only one dead is the shooter.
I'd laugh if the teacher called out they had a gun AFTER they fired the shot. Stress will make you do weird things. LOL Edited December 27, 2012 by Caster

[Mark@Sea]

Active shooter in a school, my first response wouldn't be to yell "I've got a gun!". I'd take as steady a stance as I could, with as much cover as I could get, and put enough lead in the shooter you could use him as an anchor. I figure one in the chest is all the warning he deserves.

[shortround]

Oh, those misfiring guns. You guys know they just go off at random, right? You can barely walk downtown, what with all the misfiring guns going off left and right.

[E4 No More]

Active shooter in a school, my first response wouldn't be to yell "I've got a gun!". I'd take as steady a stance as I could, with as much cover as I could get, and put enough lead in the shooter you could use him as an anchor. I figure one in the chest is all the warning he deserves.

My only modification to this would be TWO rounds in the chest. :)

[Mark@Sea]

Definitely.  The first one is his warning, after that they're behavioural modification.

 

  In my youth I rode some of the best roller coasters in the world, but the loops, spins and disconnects in logic exhibited by the ban crowd beat all I've ever seen.

-  A gun in the hands of a madman is a precision killing instrument, yet unless you're special forces, a gun would be useless to oppose a criminal.

-  If they're just going to take your gun and use it against you, why aren't the spree killers stacked up like cordwood?

-  Good intentions and pure hearts, apparently, are a much better choice of defense against an armed madman than good intentions and a 1911.  Not sure why, maybe the rainbows of defenseless innocence are supposed to blind the shooter and convert him to a peaceful, high fiber, fur-free lifestyle.

-  I wouldn't want anyone in my daughters school to have a gun, because they might miss and hit a child instead of the madman.

-  I trust my childrens' teacher with their education, discipline, care, feeding, school trips, sports, and everything else, but if the teacher had a gun it is virtually certain it would make them insane monsters.

 

  If it weren't for autonomous functions (breathing, for example) I am convinced that 80% of these thought-free people would fall over dead. 

[raydog1]

I understand why they'd be against it.  They fear training may promote ownership/carry.  Irrational fear at its worst.

 

Training is just training.  And it might come in handy if a student brings a gun to school and it falls out of their bag.  The teacher will know how to make it safe until the authorities arrive.

[mcurrier]

“From what I know of almost all of the active shooter events in the U.S., almost all of them conclude with the shooter taking his own life the moment he is challenged by the first officer on the scene,” Zwerling said. “Why not challenge him earlier?”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/27/armed-teachers-guards-key-to-school-security-in-israel/#ixzz2GI4oGPdo