Gun safety in grade school why vs why not

[Stirling XD]

Why schools shouldn't teach gun safety

Do you really think schools will teach gun safety objectively? Look at how they approach so many other topics.

"Big Bang, evolution are facts. End of story."

"Sex Ed - Birth control and condoms. Teaching abstinence is a waste of time."

Gun Safety - "If you find a gun, don't touch it. Guns are evil. If you do touch a gun it might magically go off, kill you and you would automatically go to hell which doesn't exist because there is no god. Don't associate with friends that have guns, ever. If your parents have guns it is because they are bad people that will eventually start committing crimes if they haven't already. Please tell us if your parents do have guns so that we can report them to child services."

I may be exaggerating, but not by much. Our school systems now have a "zero tolerance" policy concerning firearms of any kind. A child can be expelled for drawing a picture of a gun or pointing his finger at someone.

I agree that children should be taught gun safety, but I don't think the public school systems are the best people to teach it objectively.

 

[SMMAssociates]

heron:

The mud monster knew about the guns since she was still in a crib.... She thought she knew where one was. Surprised the heck out of her when it wasn't there.... (It's baaaaaack.....)

But your point is well taken.... The kids know about the guns, and probably know where they are. A really good lock (I like the idea of a safe, too, but there are other issues there) is a necessity. While the kid was small, and if she's around now (she no longer lives here, but while I trust her, I don't trust her friends), everything but my carry gun is locked up, and it's in a "Life Jacket" when not being carried.

"Don't ever touch it" doesn't really work.... OTOH, I know a kid (well, he's about 50 now - I'm old) who found a loaded shotgun in a nearby park. But for the Grace of God, he managed to tell his mom, who called the PD once she stopped shaking. We're talking lily-white (at the time) suburb with good Law Enforcement.... The kid, btw, was a little wild.... The best we expected for him was time off for good behavior. He did OK....

The Eddie Eagle program is quick, inexpensive, and puts the little ones in a peer group thing that ought to work until they get a little bigger, at which point other teaching should kick in - provided by "us".... Getting a room full of little kids to buy into "don't touch, find an adult" isn't all that difficult, and it really doesn't sell "guns are evil" at all.

The public schools may not be the best place to teach this, but the pure Eddie Eagle program may be hard to screw up for the kids who's parents actually care. The rest of them are mixing the Kool Aid anyway.... In larger communities, getting any other venue together may be impossible....

Regards,

 

[DHJenkins]

Why not a voluntary after-school or weekend program set up by the PTA?

That seems like it would be alot easier to accomplish then trying to add something to the curriculum of a lawsuit-fearing school or district.

 

[usmc1371]

Thanks for the help you all are great.

Again I am not advocating that public schools should teach kids to "use" a gun. The Eddie Eagle program I feel is a good way to do this. NO guns are used in the corse just a basic safety message of "stop, don't touch, leave the area, and tell an adult". This could be taught by the same cop that teaches "don't talk to strangers". In middle school and HS I had to take a health class that coverd Drugs, Sex, STD's, first aid, cpr, and even basic drivers ed in HS. This was all in one class and would have been a great place for a day of basic gun safety. I feel that kids in middle school and High school should learn the 4 rules.

I do not see how education is bad. Sex ed didn't create more teen moms, drivers ed doesn't create more teen driver accidents, DARE didn't create a bunch of addicts. IMHO I do not think there is any REAL down side to teaching kids at a very young age that guns are NOT evil killing machines they are just a tool to be used by responiible adults for a spicfic puropse.
This doesn't need to be an 8 week class just a day or two, I learned stop drop and roll and don't talk to strangers in about half an hour sitting on the gym floor. Would have been a golden time for "stop, don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult"

 

[bill in IN]

Definitely it should be taught. Right after basic discipline and not to eat the covers of the books....

 

[shotgunjoel]

I'd say teach it in school. Conservative families have home schooled over evolution and safe sex being taught in schools. If that's the case, then liberals can home school over gun safety being taught in schools. Just my thoughts.

 

[MrPeter]

If you're almost 100 times (can't remember exact number) as likely to drown in the swimming pool out back as a kid than you are accidentally shooting yourself or a friend with a gun stored in the house, and they still don't teach swimming in school, I can't realistically hope that there will ever be any form of firearms education in K-12 public schooling.

I just never understood how someone can become an adult without knowing how to swim. It's rediculous (almost moreso than being afraid of guns)