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After a spring break cruise, Leah Smith and her family returned home to find their garage door dented and backyard fence smashed.

Police confirmed that their Grand Prairie home had been the target of an unsuccessful break-in.

“That was a wake-up call,” said Smith, a gun owner for the past decade. “We got lucky this time, but we knew we needed to better arm ourselves.”

So when the first-grade teacher heard that a free concealed-handgun-license class — largely prompted by the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. — was being offered to Texas educators, she immediately signed up.

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