CENTENNIAL- Centennial Gun Club is offering all Colorado educators free concealed carry classes. About 40 teachers have already gone through the course and several more signed up at a gun festival at the club on Saturday.
"We want to make sure we can provide teachers an opportunity to get more comfortable, get more knowledgeable," said Paul Stanley, operations manager for Centennial Gun Club.
One former teacher looking to get back into the classroom spoke to 9NEWS under the condition of anonymity. She fears her desire to carry a concealed weapon in the classroom will hurt her chances of being hired.
"Those kids in my classroom are my responsibility and I need to protect them, and so having been well-trained and having confidence with a handgun I think would give me that extra feeling of comfort," she said.
Many disagree with this philosophy. Cindy Stevenson with the Colorado Association of School Executives says it's the teacher's own prerogative to get this kind of training. However, she feels arming teachers is a step in the wrong direction.
"The evidence actually tells us schools are becoming safer. So, if the evidence says schools are becoming safer, why would we turn around and give school employees firearms when firearms are at the base of school violence?" Stevenson said.
Marc Rabinoff is a former professor who spent 42 years in the classroom and said he never felt the need for a firearm. Now he has a CCW permit and says if he could do it all over again, he'd be carrying in the classroom, law permitting.
"We could certainly run and hide, and throw chairs, and do everything else that we could do, and I truly agree with that, but now I have a second option," Rabinoff said.
He says teachers and students are sitting ducks in the worst case scenario. Stevenson says guns in the classroom send the wrong message.
"I think it's an important message that we give kids if we start arming the staff because then what we're saying is, A, that you're in danger, and B, that that's an acceptable way to resolve issues," Stevenson said.
The concealed carry class at Centennial Gun Club runs $125 dollars for non-teachers.
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