This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Concealed-weapons instructors are offering free permit courses and mass violence response training to public school teachers, an effort to arm more teachers in the aftermath of the Connecticut school shooting.

Utah is one of two states — Kansas being the other — that allows individuals with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns in a school.

Instructors with the Utah Shooting Sports Council (USSC)will offer Utah's concealed weapons course to school employees noon Thursday at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.

And David Burnell, CEO of OPSGEAR, will instruct teachers on how to respond to an attack and tactics to disrupt an attacker and save lives.

Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, said he expects the class to reach its limit of 200 people and more will be turned away.

Friends or family of school employees can take the course for $35, with the money being donated to charity. Participants will be responsible for their own $46 application fee to the state to obtain the concealed weapons permit.

USSC has offered the course to teachers before, typically around the fall break, but after a Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 28 dead, including the gunman, there was demand for another class, Aposhian said.

"We just wanted to do something," he said.

Participants do not need to own a firearm, but if they bring a weapon it must be unloaded.