Free Concealed-Carry Gun Classes for Utah School Employees

Clark Aposhian, a concealed-carry weapons instructor, offered a free class this past weekend to public school employees seeking to apply for a concealed-carry permit. Aposhian is the owner of FairWarning Firearm Training, and he also serves as the chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council. His wife is a schoolteacher. Aposhian said that the recent school shootings across the country prompted him to offer the free training to educators.

When Aposhian first proposed the idea, his offer was met with opposition from some teachers and union representatives at the Utah Education Association’s conference in Salt Lake City. Some said that the idea of having guns in schools, even in the hands of trusted colleagues who have been trained in weapons handling, makes them nervous.

"We’ve always resisted the idea of arming school employees," said Susan Kuziak, executive director of the teachers union, which includes 18,000 members. "Though the intentions may be good, ultimately, the potential harm is too great." Some teachers at the UEA convention agreed. "Who's to say a kid couldn't take a gun from me or another teacher?" said Darren Dickson, a teacher at Altamont High in Duchesne County. "It's too much of a risk."

But Aposhian said that he doesn’t expect teachers to suddenly become "heroes" if a school shooting occurs. In fact, he said, he tells educators that in such a situation they should follow school lockdown procedures, with teachers locking doors and remaining in their classrooms. "We discourage teachers from roaming the halls looking for an intruder," he said. "We’re not trying to turn them into law enforcement in any way."

The state of Utah allows its citizens some of the most freedom with guns of any state in the country. But school districts in Utah have had ongoing debates over the issue of having guns on campus. Federal law bans weapons from being on school property, but according to Utah law, schools can’t prevent people with valid concealed-carry permits from carrying firearms on campus. Each school district has its own guidelines, such as allowing permit holders to keep their guns readily accessible, but not in a desk drawer or coat closet.

Although Kuziak and other administrators are concerned about teachers having a "knee-jerk reaction" to being trained in firearms usage, many teachers are interested. Despite the UEA’s opposition to Aposhian’s classes, he said that he himself has not heard of any detractors. He estimates that only about 3% of school employees in Utah actually carry guns, but he believes that those who want to should be able to. So he trains them for free. "Everything from custodians, administrators, principals, teachers, counselors," Aposhian said. "In my last class last week I just taught a school nurse who is over quite a few schools."

Included with Aposhian’s free class is the fingerprinting and photographing required for the concealed-weapons application. Public school employees will still have to pay the $59 application fee to the state for the permit. Aposhian believes that if a potential attacker knows there may be someone in the school who is armed, they may pause to reflect. "We will never know if the presence of a firearm in an employee's hands would have saved the lives of students or staff at these schools. However we may state, with absolute certainly, how many people lost their lives when staff were not carrying a firearm for self-defense."

Aposhian assures his detractors that his intent is not to turn teachers into cops, any more than teaching them to use a fire extinguisher will turn them into firemen. Teachers are expected to know how to perform CPR and apply basic first aid, so offering firearms training for teachers is just another layer of school security.

"We send our kids to school, we expect them to be safe, except we are basically putting our heads in the sand and not realizing what a soft target is," Aposhian said. "Teachers and students are, as we have seen in the last few weeks, going into harm's way."