Gun Control: Utah Councilman Wants Elementary School Teachers To Take Concealed-Carry Permit Course

The city council in Spring City, a small farming town in Utah, is making a bold statement against gun violence, but not by banning guns. It's doing the opposite. It's looking into recommending that each household own a gun.

Additionally, Neil Sorensen, the councilman who made the proposal last week, wants the town’s elementary school teachers to take a concealed-carry permit course at the expense of the city’s coffers, according to multiple local reports. There are approximately 20 elementary school teachers in Spring City, according to KSL.com.

Council members are working to draft a resolution before next month’s meeting. They are now working on the language: It was first proposed to require all households to own a gun, but the council may now only make a recommendation instead of making it mandatory.

“We don’t like big government, so we’re not going to force anyone,” Sorensen told Deseret News. He added that he was driven to make such a proposal because of the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., when a young man broke into the school and killed 26 people, including 20 small children, with firearms.

That mass shooting reignited the national gun control debate. President Barack Obama has responded by asking Vice President Joe Biden to create a task force to find ways of curbing gun violence.

The task force is set to have a series of meetings this week with video game industry officials and mental health experts, according to CBS News. Biden is also expected to meet with groups figthing illegal guns and with pro-gun groups.

The 2000 census data lists the population of Spring City at 956 people. A majority of the more than 300 households in Spring City already own guns, Sorensen told Deseret News, but the council's resolution will be an added encouragement to residents to get firearms training. It is also the council’s way of showing its support for gun ownership, he said.