DAVE KOPEL, CALL YOUR OFFICE:

More than a dozen teachers and public school employees will spend part of their UEA weekend in a classroom — learning how to use a gun.

Clark Aposhian is offering a free class today to public school employees seeking to get their concealed- weapons permit.

“It is self-defense,” he told the Deseret Morning News on Thursday. “But because teachers and school administrators and custodians are typically surrounded by students all day, any threat to any individual with a firearm would also be a threat to those students.”

The concealed-weapons instructor’s offer was met with opposition from some teachers and union representatives at the Utah Education Association’s conference in Salt Lake City.

“We’ve always resisted the idea of arming school employees,” said Susan Kuziak, executive director of the 18,000-member teachers union.

Indeed they have. But not everyone is listening: “So far, about 2 dozen teachers and public school employees have signed up for his class.”