200 Utah teachers to get weapons training

SALT LAKE CITY - 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 Connecticut school shooting.

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.

"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 Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

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

"It's a terrible idea," said Carol Lear, a chief lawyer for the Utah Office of Education, who argues that teachers could be overpowered for their guns or misfire or cause an accidental shooting.