| Updated: 1/21 9:11 am |
Published: 1/18 6:40 pm
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Prompted by what happened in Newtown, Connecticut, some Tulsa-area educators are taking matters into their own hands and learning how to defend themselves and their students.
Oklahoma is one of 11 states preparing legislation that would allow teachers to have guns on public campuses. The U.S. Shooting Academy is helping them get started.
For many people, holding or handling a gun can be very intimidating. That’s why the U.S. Shooting Academy wants teachers to understand how to use a gun, especially during a crisis.
Even though it’s not legal for educators to carry now, the Oklahoma Educators Security and Self Defense Association is hoping to get teachers or principals prepared just in case. The group is made up of educators, law enforcement, military and medical professionals.
"This program that we have going is going to do something about someone who would want to harm children,” says U.S. Shooting Academy manager, Dave Saye.
Right now, there is legislation on the floor to allow Oklahoma teachers who are CLEET certified to carry guns on campus.
"If that does pass, then these teachers will have a jump start on the program,” says Saye.
The class will also teach them methods of evacuation, weapon retention and ways to incapacitate an active shooter. FOX23 wanted to know what the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association thought, so we went to visit with president, Lynn Stockley. She represents more than 2800 teachers in Tulsa Public Schools.
"It seems a little like it would be the cart before the horse that we would be passing legislation that would allow guns and then we would be doing some training with it, rather than the other way around,” she says.
Stockley says the majority of the teachers she works with think it’s a bad idea to allow teachers to carry guns in class.
We did some checking, and so far about 300 educators have expressed interest in taking the conceal carry class. The open registration is from 10-2 on Saturday at Tulsa’s U.S. Shooting Academy.
