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Cori Sorensen, a fourth grade teacher from Highland Elementary School in Highland, Utah, receives firearms training with a .357 magnum from personal defense instructor Jim McCarthy during concealed weapons training for 200 Utah teachers
As the gun-control debate rages in the US teachers are being given free weapons training by lobby groups - but the move has been condemned as a 'horrible, terrible, no-good, rotten idea'.

It is among the latest efforts to arm or train teachers to confront assailants after gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother and then went on a rampage through the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 children and six adults before killing himself.

Nearly 200 teachers in Utah took six hours of free gun training offered by the state's leading gun lobby.

Elementary school teacher Jessica Fiveash, who learned on Thursday how to use a 9 mm Ruger with a laser sight, said: 'If we have the ability to stop something, we should do it.'

In Ohio, a firearms group said it was launching a test program in tactical firearms training for 24 teachers. In Arizona, the attorney geeral is proposing a change to state law that would allow an educator in each school to carry a gun.

The moves to train teachers come after the National Rifle Association proposed placing an armed officer at each of the nation's schools, though some schools already have police officers. Parents and educators have questioned how safe the proposal would keep children and whether it would be economically feasible.

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Clark Aposhian, President of Utah Shooting Sport Council, holds a pistol during the concealed weapons training. The lobby group offered six hours free training
Some educators say it is dangerous to allow guns on campus. Among the potential dangers they point to are teachers being overpowered for their weapons or students getting them and accidentally or purposely shooting classmates.

'It's a terrible idea,' said Carol Lear, a chief lawyer for the Utah Office of Education. 'It's a horrible, terrible, no-good, rotten idea.'

Kristen Rand, the legislative director for the Violence Policy Center, a gun control advocacy organisation, said to believe that a 'teacher would be successful in stopping someone who has made the decision to engage in a shootout is just not rationale'.

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Around 200 teachers watched intently and made notes as Mr Aposhian demonstrated with a plastic gun during concealed-weapons training offered free in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre
'No teacher is ever going to be as effective as a trained law enforcement officer,' Ms Rand said.

Even trained police officers don't always hit their targets, and arming teachers could put innocent students at risk of crossfire, she said.

Gun-rights advocates say teachers can act more quickly than law enforcement in the critical first few minutes to protect children from the kind of deadly shooting that took place in Connecticut. They emphasised the importance of reacting appropriately under pressure.

'We're not suggesting that teachers roam the halls looking for an armed intruder', said Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, the state's biggest gun lobby.

'They should lock down the classroom. But a gun is one more option if the shooter breaks into a classroom.'

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Christine Caldwell, left, receives firearms training with a 9mm Glock from Mr McCarthy. It is the latest effort to arm teachers to confront school assailants
The group waived its $50 fee for the training. Instruction featured plastic guns and emphasized that people facing deadly threats should announce or show their gun and take cover before trying to shoot.

They cautioned teachers about the liability that comes with packing a gun in public.

'It's going to be a hassle. It's another responsibility. You can't just leave your gun lying around,' Mr Aposhian said. 'Not for a minute.'

The teachers at the basic gun training applied for a concealed-weapons permit, submitting fingerprints and a mug shot for a criminal background check.

The class kicked off as an instructor in the 'psychology of mass violence' offered various tactics to disrupt an assailant.

The first, the instructor said, was to start with the command: 'Stop right there!'

'I wouldn't hesitate to shoot if the danger was immediate,' said Ms Fiveash, adding that her laser sight would make shooting in tight quarters safer.

English teacher Kevin Leatherbarrow said he often felt threatened while working at an inner-city school in Buffalo, New York, where he got a license to carry a pistol.

He moved less than a year ago to Utah, where he feels safer. But he said gun violence can break out anywhere.

Mr Leatherbarrow said he was highly trained in handling guns - and was taking criticism from parents who don't appreciate his views on school safety.

'I'm in agreement not everybody should be carrying firearms in school. They're not trained. But for some parents to think we're cowboys, that frustrates me,' he said.'I wish parents would understand.'

In the US the number of homicides at schools of children, ages 5-18, have been lower year-by-year in the 2000s than they were in the mid- to late-1990s, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report on school crime released in 2012.

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Mr Aposhian's lobby group waved their normal $50 fee for the training in the wake of the massacre which has rocked America
At 32 deaths, the 2006-2007 school year was the only one that reached the levels from the 1990s. The manner of death was not listed.

Utah is among a few states that let people carry licensed concealed weapons into public schools without exception, the National Conference of State Legislatures says in a 2012 compendium of state gun laws.

Utah educators say they would ban guns if they could, but legislators left them with no choice. State law forbids schools, districts or college campuses from imposing their own gun restrictions.

Educators say they have no way of knowing how many teachers are armed. Gun-rights advocates estimate 1 percent of Utah teachers, or 240, are licensed to carry concealed weapons. It's not known how many do so at school.

'I never felt threatened in 14 years of teaching, but I don't think you can be too prepared,' said Tiffany Parry, a dance teacher in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy who applied for Thursday for a license to carry a concealed gun. 'I think it could come in handy.'

The debate about gun control has been brought to the forefront by the Connecticut tragedy, with the National Rifle Association's chief executive Wayne LaPierre claiming: 'The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.'

Larry Pratt, executive director advocacy group Gun Owners of America, also claimed that gun control supporters 'have the blood of little children on their hands' and the tragedy could have been prevented if the teachers were allowed to carry weapons.

But politicians and gun-control advocates have reacted angrily to the statements.