On Thursday, she was one of 200 Utah teachers who flocked to an indoor sports arena for free instruction in the handling of firearms by gun activists who say armed educators might have a chance at thwarting deadly shooting rampages in their schools.
The event was organized by the Utah Shooting Sports Council in response to the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, this month that killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The council said it has typically attracted about 16 teachers each year to its concealed carry training courses. But Thursday's event near Salt Lake City, organized especially for educators in the aftermath of Newtown, drew interest from hundreds, and the class was capped at 200 for space limitations.
"I feel like I would take a bullet for any student in the school district," Hansen, a special education teacher in a Salt Lake City school district, told Reuters after the training session.
"If we should ever face a shooter like the one in Connecticut, I'm fully prepared to respond with my firearm," she said, adding that she planned to buy a weapon soon and take it to work.
The Newtown massacre reignited a national debate over gun safety. President Barack Obama signaled his support for reinstating a national ban on assault-style rifles and urged Congress to act. The National Rifle Association has called for posting armed guards at schools and rejected new gun-control measures.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/28/us-usa-guns-teachers-idUSBRE8BR02N20121228
