Do you think gun safety should be taught in schools?

[snarlingcoyote]

Here in Louisiana, at least when I was growing up, we all took a hunter safety class in PE somewhere in middle school. It included gun safety, and shooting guns. (At my school we just got pellet guns. At DH's school out in the piney woods, they got to shoot real rifles.) At the end we got a certificate saying we'd passed.

I distinctly remember basic gun safety being part of kindergarten and first grade as well - in the same category with "The Fireman is our friend!" and "What does the Post Office do?" sorts of lessons.

 

[glammadiva]

Eddie Eagle is a wonderful program and teaches kids what to do if they find a gun.

 

[MSSANDRA]

It would never go over here in my town.. heck, the parents do not even allow the kids around here use their hand as a gun.. I can't imagine they would allow the schools to talk about guns in any way.

How can pretending that guns do not exist keep children safe? Now we do not let DS pretend to shoot anyone, except specific neft gun play time, but he absolutely knows what a gun looks like and that if you ever see one to never touch, walk away and get an adult. Most people in our area, do have guns and the kids have had their hands on them, but they are a lot safer if they come upon one because they know what to do. Do not all schools have resource officers? I know our officer does programs and address issues like guns, and stranger awareness, and seat belt safety etc.

 

[CPT Tripss]

The primary goal of the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle program is not to safeguard children, but to protect the interests of the NRA and the firearms industry by making guns more acceptable to children and youth. The Eddie Eagle program employs strategies similar to those utilized by America's tobacco industry—from youth "educational" programs that are in fact marketing tools to the use of appealing cartoon characters that aim to put a friendly face on a hazardous product. The hoped-for result is new customers for the industry and new members for the NRA.

The NRA uses Eddie Eagle as a lobbying tool in its efforts to derail the passage of child access prevention (CAP) and mandatory trigger lock laws—on both the state and federal levels.

Undercover interviews conducted by the Violence Policy Center and the Global Survival Network with NRA staff at gun industry trade shows confirm that Eddie Eagle is not only a thinly disguised marketing tool used to "soften up guns" in the words of one NRA staffer—essentially Joe Camel with feathers—but also acts as the "the clean-up committee" to help burnish the NRA's public image after gun control battles.

Ahh yes, a cute little cartoon character . . . http://www.vpc.org/fact_sht/eddiekey.htm

 

[kacaju]

How can pretending that guns do not exist keep children safe? Now we do not let DS pretend to shoot anyone, except specific neft gun play time, but he absolutely knows what a gun looks like and that if you ever see one to never touch, walk away and get an adult. Most people in our area, do have guns and the kids have had their hands on them, but they are a lot safer if they come upon one because they know what to do. Do not all schools have resource officers? I know our officer does programs and address issues like guns, and stranger awareness, and seat belt safety etc.

We have DARE program in 6th grade. Other then that.. the police will come in once in a while to discuss bike safety and pedestrian safety...but never guns. We are an upscale urban community and the people in this town like to believe nothing bad will ever happen in the town...sickening...and I look forward to leaving!!

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

Eddie Eagle is a wonderful program and teaches kids what to do if they find a gun.

I would absolutely object to the use of a political mascot in my child's school. That isn't gun safety education, that is political lobbying.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I would absolutely object to the use of a political mascot in my child's school. That isn't gun safety education, that is political lobbying.

The course can be taught without use of the eagle - you just have to teach everything that's in the video without actually showing the video. That said, I've seen the video (many years back). I doubt seriously most adults (much less children) would get a pro gun political message out of it.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Here in Louisiana, at least when I was growing up, we all took a hunter safety class in PE somewhere in middle school. It included gun safety, and shooting guns. (At my school we just got pellet guns. At DH's school out in the piney woods, they got to shoot real rifles.) At the end we got a certificate saying we'd passed.

I distinctly remember basic gun safety being part of kindergarten and first grade as well - in the same category with "The Fireman is our friend!" and "What does the Post Office do?" sorts of lessons.

We took a week out of math to take the hunters safety course, though it wasn't until 7th grade. I lost the card and this was before computer generated records. Years later when the course became mandatory, I had to retake it

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Ahh yes, a cute little cartoon character . . . http://www.vpc.org/fact_sht/eddiekey.htm

Wow, an anti-gun group finds faults with an NRA safety program. I'm shocked

 

[aprilgail2]

Didn't look at the article yet but if we are talking that they are going to teach "Guns are dangerous and you should never play with them. Always assume they are loaded and tell an adult if you see a gun that isn't locked up." Then I think that is fine.

If they are going to teach anything that involves touching a gun then no... these are first graders.

.

I agree- I don't mind the schools teaching my child that but no way in heck are they going to teach her to handle a gun-I wouldn't allow it!

I think this would work well with the DARE program and police officers teaching it. Im sorry if schools have dropped that program due to ineffectiveness, my DD tells me all the time that smoking is a drug and im killing her by making her lungs black... so yeah at a young age its effective.
?

That is what they tell the kids in health class in first grade here- no need for a dare program for that.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I agree- I don't mind the schools teaching my child that but no way in heck are they going to teach her to handle a gun-I wouldn't allow it!.

Even the hunter safety course (which is obviously geared toward people who WILL be firing guns) doesn't feature actual guns or gun training in the class.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

The course can be taught without use of the eagle - you just have to teach everything that's in the video without actually showing the video. That said, I've seen the video (many years back). I doubt seriously most adults (much less children) would get a pro gun political message out of it.

I haven't seen the video and the corresponding curriculum, so I don't know whether it is accurate to say that everything within it needs to be taught (unless it begins and ends with "don't touch, get an adult, guns are not toys," however, it would not be acceptable to me). I can also say that I honestly don't care whether it's perceived by pro-gun industry advocates as "neutral", as I will not allow the primary gun industry lobbying group to teach my children anything. The NRA teaching gun safety in school would be akin to me, and to many people, as Planned Parenthood teaching Abstinence Education in a Southern Baptist church. I'll let Joe Camel teach my children not to smoke before I'll let the gun industry's lobby teach my children how to handle their products.

Would you be amenable to using the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence's curriculum in schools?

 

[Colleen27]

I haven't seen the video and the corresponding curriculum, so I don't know whether it is accurate to say that everything within it needs to be taught (unless it begins and ends with "don't touch, get an adult, guns are not toys," however, it would not be acceptable to me). I can also say that I honestly don't care whether it's perceived by pro-gun industry advocates as "neutral", as I will not allow the primary gun industry lobbying group to teach my children anything. The NRA teaching gun safety in school would be akin to me, and to many people, as Planned Parenthood teaching Abstinence Education in a Southern Baptist church. I'll let Joe Camel teach my children not to smoke before I'll let the gun industry's lobby teach my children how to handle their products.

Would you be amenable to using the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence's curriculum in schools?

That's exactly what came to mind for me too. Our school board has a policy against using any materials, no matter how neutral they are on the surface, that are published, sponsored, or provided by groups like Planned Parenthood in the health and sex ed curriculum. That reaches far beyond anything dealing with abortion or contraception - even basic informational materials about periods and puberty are off-limits if they come from an organization with an agenda in the abortion/contraception debates. I don't see why gun safety should be any different - if the district or state feels it needs to be taught, it could certainly do so with a less politically charged set of instructional materials.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Even the hunter safety course (which is obviously geared toward people who WILL be firing guns) doesn't feature actual guns or gun training in the class.

If that's the case, things have changed since I took the course in NJ in order to get my hunting license. Shotguns were used in the class, only handled by instructors. They were used in addition to films to demonstrate proper firearm safety. We also had a field day where we had to demonstrate a minimal degree of proficiency with our own weapon. Those aspects of the class totally appropriate and necessary.

What wasn't appropriate was that each class finished about a 1/2 hour early and, "in order to get the required hours," the instructors kept us and went into their NRA pro gun rights rhetoric for the remaining time. I was stuck with it as they were the only game in town.

 

[WDSearcher]

I haven't seen the video and the corresponding curriculum, so I don't know whether it is accurate to say that everything within it needs to be taught (unless it begins and ends with "don't touch, get an adult, guns are not toys," however, it would not be acceptable to me). I can also say that I honestly don't care whether it's perceived by pro-gun industry advocates as "neutral", as I will not allow the primary gun industry lobbying group to teach my children anything. The NRA teaching gun safety in school would be akin to me, and to many people, as Planned Parenthood teaching Abstinence Education in a Southern Baptist church. I'll let Joe Camel teach my children not to smoke before I'll let the gun industry's lobby teach my children how to handle their products.

Would you be amenable to using the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence's curriculum in schools?

I know you didn't ask me, but I'll answer anyway.

I wouldn't care who was teaching gun safety in the schools as long as someone does. Personally, I'd love to see the two groups work together. The NRA has a long history of gun safety and responsible gun ownership. The Brady Campaign has first-hand knowledge of what happens when guns get into the wrong hands. Both organizations, interestingly enough, have the exact same big-picture motive -- no more gun violence.

 

[LisaR]

I haven't seen the video and the corresponding curriculum, so I don't know whether it is accurate to say that everything within it needs to be taught (unless it begins and ends with "don't touch, get an adult, guns are not toys," however, it would not be acceptable to me). I can also say that I honestly don't care whether it's perceived by pro-gun industry advocates as "neutral", as I will not allow the primary gun industry lobbying group to teach my children anything. The NRA teaching gun safety in school would be akin to me, and to many people, as Planned Parenthood teaching Abstinence Education in a Southern Baptist church. I'll let Joe Camel teach my children not to smoke before I'll let the gun industry's lobby teach my children how to handle their products.

Would you be amenable to using the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence's curriculum in schools?

 

[snarlingcoyote]

We took a week out of math to take the hunters safety course, though it wasn't until 7th grade. I lost the card and this was before computer generated records. Years later when the course became mandatory, I had to retake it

Here in Louisiana, people born a few years after DH and I have to provide evidence of taking the course to get their hunter's permits, but older than that and you're exempt.

I'm pretty sure DH's certificate is in his dresser though and mine is in a scrapbook my mom made of my school days. That course and archery were the only two I got A's in for PE the whole year, so you're darn tooting I kept that certificate!