Is it Time for Firearms Safety Classes to be Taught in Public Schools?
Yes, it is. When I was in high school, we were required to complete a gun safety class as part of hunter education in PE or as part of high school ROTC. Now that gun ownership is on the rise, I’d say it makes sense.
May 10th, 2012 at 9:10 am
I’ve seen high school kids trying to put condoms on bananas in health class. It was not pretty.
All I want to know is how the firearms class instructor would keep the little monsters from killing each other, either accidentally on purpose or purely on purpose, the first time the kids had access to a functioning firearm.
While that may sound harsh, it really is not. In Chemistry classes, the students are rarely allowed to use anything more reactive and dangerous than vinegar and baking soda, because of liability concerns.
How would firearm instruction be kept safe?
May 10th, 2012 at 9:42 am
mikee,
Apparently you know nothing about the purpose of firearm safety classes nor how they are performed.
The first rule is, no live ammunition is allowed in the classroom.
Second, dummy, or training, guns are used to demonstrate gun handling. These are the orange or blue plastic guns that are molded to look like real guns.
I believe that firearm safety training should begin much earlier than high school. My father started teaching me when I was 4 or 5 and I started my son at the same age. The training included demonstrations of the destructive power of guns to emphasize the importance of safe handling.
Safety training teaches how to handle guns safely. It doesn’t necessarily include learning how to shoot. The most dangerous person with a gun is someone who has never been taught how to handle them. The safest people are those who learned at an early age.
The most dangerous gun handlers I’ve ever seen were cops who were never taught proper gun handling before they became cops. Police gun safety training is notoriously bad.
May 10th, 2012 at 9:57 am
I agree with you.
I too had a Firearm Safety Class at the age of 10.
Now I already had been around GUNS at home.
Raised on a farm in Kentucky..Hunting at a 7 years.
Military training with the Marine Corps..
My grandson went hunting at 6 years, “Deer Hunting”
I guess Safety with Firearms runs in my family.
Please Keep Trying to get FIREARM SAFETY IN OUR SCHOOLS.
Thank you….
SEMPER-FI
May 10th, 2012 at 10:02 am
1971-1975. Disassembled Garands and M-14s. Had a range, .22LR bolt action single shots. Made smokeless gunpowder and alcohol in chemistry class. In Chicago’s, then, top magnet school. O mores, o tempores.
May 10th, 2012 at 10:02 am
Free membership to NRA and The American Rifleman.
May 10th, 2012 at 10:13 am
How about schools teach reading, writing and math and leave the sex ed and gun ed to the home?
May 10th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Doesn’t even need live fire or real guns. Just Eddie Eagle “Don’t touch, leave and tell an adult” for Elementary school, and the Four Rules for older kids.
Safety isn’t an issue. When teachers talked about looking both ways when crossing the street we didn’t have a field trip up the the busy main road to see if we could effectively dodge a buick.
If they did the class would be pass/fail 😉
May 10th, 2012 at 11:13 am
My first exposure to the Three Rules was in a single 50-minute session of junior high PE.
May 10th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
My kids went through Eddie the Eagle in elementary school 3 years ago. I think it’s a great program, and could be used MUCH more widely to the benefit of most kids who go through it. Can’t really do much about the “dumber-than-a-bag-of-hammers” crowd, unfortunately.
May 10th, 2012 at 11:11 pm
We have ‘sex safety’ classes now. We have drivers-ed classes now. So why not firearms safety classes?