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YOUNG GUNS

Mo. Bill Would Require First Graders to Take NRA Gun Safety Class

The program tells kids what to do if they find a gun

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Via: The Daily Record

Along with learning their ABCs and 123s, Missouri first-graders would be required to take a gun safety course, under a bill being considered in a state Senate committee.

The measure would require teaching the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program in every first-grade classroom in the state. Teachers would also have to take eight hours of training on responding to an armed intruder, according to the Associated Press.

"I hate mandates as much as anyone, but some concerns and conditions rise to the level of needing a mandate," said Sen. Dan Brown, a Rolla Republican, who proposed the bill even before last month's mass shooting at a Newtown elementary school, the AP reports.

The NRA's Eddie the Eagle program teaches kids what to do when they find a gun. "Stop, don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult," is the eagle's slogan taught to children through songs, videos, and other instructional materials. The NRA web site equates Eddie the Eagle to Smokey the Bear, who teaches children not to play with matches.

Via the Associated Press and the National Rifle Association web site
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Should school children be required to take the NRA's gun safety course?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • PoliticalSpice
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    In first grade, when they can not understand it? You people are less interested in gun safety then political indoctrination. How about waiting till the kid is 13 or 14 and can actually use a gun? That might make sense, but teaching a six year old?
  • Knightkore
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    Trust me they can understand....by the teens it's too late and they're already in a gang or something without any respect for guns....
  • o
    NTBFW
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    @PoliticalSpice do you know what they teach? No. They teach gun safety and not to even touch a gun without an adult supervising them. You aren't giving the kids enough credit. They understand a lot more than you think.
    Everyone could use a class on gun safety. Even if you hate guns.
  • martydotcom
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    Given that the k -6 schools in Senator's home district rated 6.5 out of 10 on state wide testing perhaps time might be better spent teaching more traditional subjects.

  • View all 58 replies >

  • DrFunkenstein
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    It's nanny state propaganda trying to force children into wanting to have guns and go experiment with their daddy's guns. I bet Obama is behind it trying to get more kids to bring guns to school so they'll kill their classmates and allow Obama to take ALL our guns.
  • JimCO55
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    Because they don't work? These are the results of gun safety study for twenty-nine groups of boys (n= 64) that took part in the study. The mean age of participants was 9.8 years. Twenty-one of the groups (72%) discovered the handgun (n = 48 boys); 16 groups (76%) handled it (n = 30 boys). One or more members in 10 of the groups (48%) pulled the trigger (n = 16 boys). Approximately half of the 48 boys who found the gun thought that it was a toy or were unsure whether it was real. Parental estimates of their child's interest in guns did not predict actual behavior on finding the handgun. Boys who were believed to have a low interest in real guns were as likely to handle the handgun or pull the trigger as boys who were perceived to have a moderate or high interest in guns ... More than 90% of the boys who handled the gun or pulled the trigger reported that they had previously received some sort of gun safety instruction!

    Conclusion. Many 8- to 12-year-old boys will handle a handgun if they find one. Guns that are kept in homes should be stored in a manner that renders them inaccessible to children.guns, weapons, firearms, children, childhood behavior, injury prevention. CDC data show number of accidental firearm deaths for children under age 15 has gone back up to 62, a number that it was at in 2008.
  • frigginhell
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    How about sex ed then and teach about the use of condoms as opposed to preaching abstinence? Because I know a certain segment of the population who was really against that kind of ungodly indoctrination being taught in there schools from a state that sounds an awful lot like Montana. Oh wait, it was Montana.
    Or to put it another way, it's only indoctrination when it's the other side doing it. When it's our side it's just good sense. Like taking a kid to church every sunday and having them told they'll burn in hell while the monotonously chant hymns about obedience.
  • No_Bama
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    @JimCO55 So your liberal reasoning is to to not educate children at all about staying away from guns? And what is the origin of this imaginary study?
  • No_Bama
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    @frigginhell "Or to put it another way, it's only indoctrination when it's the other side doing it. When it's our side it's just good sense."

    Spoken like a true liberal.

  • View all 18 replies >

  • AMSCountryboy
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    This is pretty cool. This will help stop gun ignorance. I think all kids should learn gun safety at home... but not everybody has a family member at home who can teach them
  • u
    CommonSense
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    Whether you think guns should be banned, a little more regulated, a little less regulated, or just freely available to anyone this gun safety class is commonsense. If more kids know what to do when they find a gun then they are less likely to hurt themselves with a gun.
    Doesn't mean we shouldn't also require guns to be locked away when not holstered. That would also protect kids and other people who might just stumble upon the gun.
  • o
    thatgirl
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    @Canoochee nooooooo, I would prefer an entity that isnt a lobby to teach my children. Do you have kids in school in MO? I do.
  • Canoochee
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    @thatgirl I prefer that my child be taught by the most qualified. My child was already well versed in firearm safety before he went to school. He knew not to touch a firearm if found and to report it to an adult.

    What is it about the NRA that makes you hate them so much? Do you bear the same animosity for say the ACLU who is also a lobbyist?

  • View all 25 replies >

  • jessejaymes
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    It's good teaching to tell the kids to not touch the gun and leave and get an adult. It's good for teachers to have a seminar about what to do. I don't like the NRA and don't trust them but as this is stated here, I don't see what the objection can be?
  • o
    NTBFW
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    Before you say no you should actually find out what is taught. FANTASTIC IDEA!! I almost can't believe a politician has such good sense.
  • jmann88
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    That's a great idea. Then maybe a refresher class say middle school? They offered the hunters safety class in my middle school by the state troopers.
  • jessejaymes
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    You make the statement that schools have tried to take away parenting. My wife was in education for several decades and died a principal and her primary gripe was she wanted parent to start parenting again. I agree with you about the "morality/sxuality and lot of other crap" but I assure you that the on site teachers and facility do not make the rules of this. The legislature does and it frustrates the on site education community just as much as it does you.
  • SavageMazx
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    @jessejaymes while I agree that our legislatiors are producing much of the insanity, I have specifically dealt with groups of teachers that whole heartiedly agree with what is being spewed from text books and in class rooms.

  • View all 11 replies >

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    fistv
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    At the school I went to in Northern NJ 66 a hunter safety course was mandatory and taught in the one day a week health class for 5 weeks, the other 4 were gym. Back then we would bring our shotguns to school during the seasons and the buses would be empty in the afternoon runs home and a few that went near good hunting areas would be standing room only....
  • russ
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    I'm a Missouri resident and I've been blessed with 8 children. Each one has grown up in a home with firearms where safety was always paramount. Never has there been an incident compromising that rule. Teaching school children a proper respect for guns and their use is an excellent way to ensure a safe environment.
  • ConserveUSA
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    I remember taking Gun Safety Course back in Elem. School with 4H Club when I was growing up. BB Gun, Pellet, Shotgun, and Rifle. Lots of learning! Fishing Class was very interesting as well!
  • u
    HungryJoe87111
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    @thatgirl Sorry you feelt that way. But I did SUB at the Albuquerque Public Schools for a while, and I've seen first hand many high school graduates from a lot of public school systems and due to the 1) classroom overcrowding 2) obsession of the upper echelons with enriching THEIR SALARIES rather than trying to improve conditions for students and teachers, "that's the way it is". That's why so many parents wind up sending their kids to private schools if they can afford it.
    It WASN'T ALWAYS like this. I'm a graduate of the Public School System in Forest Hills, Queens, NY. The overwhelming majority of my teachers were EXCELLENT. A handful (Ms. Linda Lippman, Mr. Schainwoks?, Mr. Harvey, Mr. Lascher-these four) WERE TERRIBLE BIGOTS but good teachers. After my Grandfather died and I wore black for a week, Ms. Lippman, who knew where I was from because I was still learning English, commented: "Is this week some sort of Fascist Holiday? Is that why you're wearing black?". This post is already too long, but I wanted to let you know what many students go through at the hands of their teachers. I quit teaching after the 3rd break in into my car. At $7.52 an hour (1994 wages) I couldn't afford to work at Public Schools and be constantly replacing windows, radios and center consoles. No insult intended. Just stating the facts. Home-schooled kids are MOST ALWAYS better educated than public school kids. I saw that on some TV news magazine, either 60 Minutes or one of its clones. I'm sure you are a wonderful, caring teacher. Not all are, ESPECIALLY the upper echelons, who've reached their level of incompentence, "Peter Principle" style.
  • o
    cleverusername
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    Yep such a terrible thing to do...you know..." program teaches kids what to do when they find a gun. "Stop, don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult," is the eagle's slogan taught to children through songs, videos, and other instructional materials. The NRA web site equates Eddie the Eagle to Smokey the Bear, who teaches children not to play with matches."
  • ArmedLibInMO
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    My son went through Eddie Eagle in Second Grade an a couple times afterwards. It went hand in hand with what we taught him at home. I'd love to see a return of rifle teams at the middle school and high school level.

    I was a bit concerned about the Eddie Eagle program until I read the lesson plan. It boils down to 'if you see a gun or any part of a gun, find an adult and do not play with it.

    There is no mystification of firearms, no creation of firearm talisman worshipers and no politics. This is basic firearms safety and does work.
  • Roco
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    I think I am missing something here. shouldn't a first grader know not to touch a gun any way? To me it's just like not playing with stove, don't stick you hand into a fan blade. Aren't things like this taught at home. I knew not to touch a gun at the age, even though, my family did not have guns in our home. Maybe that is the problem. A lot of things that should be taught at home are being taught at school.
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