Why Cant The Media Cover This

[Jack Jones]

I wouldn't be opposed to any town that wants to make that part of their curriculum if it just to teach children to stay away and what to do, etc.. I'd be likely to scrutinize the NRA's curriculum or any other group's curriculum first. Not sure I would want to mandate it as a matter of law if it means the adoption of a particular group's program. Schools should be free to choose from other programs, or design their own.

[hank franklin]

I dunno, seems from the link they're just teaching kids what to do if they encounter a gun.

I seem to recall mentioning this to my kid a time or two. See gun, stay away. Guns bad. Not for kids. Don't touch. Guns go boom. I think I as a parent can handle this one.

[Feathers and Fins]

Hank I will have to strongly disagree with you, It is the curiousity of guns that cause problems, I was raised around them, shooting them very early and even have a picture of me at about 3 with my 22 out with my dad. I was taught what a gun was what it could do and what it was for. If a new gun came in I got to see it and even shoot it. My father could have left 100 guns on a table and never one time would my friends or me pick it up. We just had no care to if it wasnt time to go hunting or shooting. To us there was no mystery about them nothing to be curious about or play. I had a key to the gun safe when i was 12 and would have the guns loaded up in the truck before my dad even got up to go hunting or out to the range but other than when it was time to use them that key was just another key on my chain.

But i have read hundreds of reports of kids who didnt know about them that curiousity or fooling around with them caused accidents or deaths. People need to remove the mystery from them, and they need to lock them up, Except for my carry weapon when mine were growing up the guns were in a safe bolts and pins removed and in a seperate safe. I tusted my kids but had no clue what their friends might do. Diffrent world from when i was growing up and most kids hunted.

[Outside Bend]

I'm glad you've taught that lesson at home, hank, and no one is preventing you from continuing to do so. But I dont see the harm reinforcing those lessons at school, or why it'd be an affront to parents. There are lot of things students learn outside school - math, spelling, cooking, shop - it doesnt prevent them from being included in the curriculum, and it doesnt mean the school is behaving as a nanny state.

[Feathers and Fins]

Heck i remember our schools with Archery class and Rifle Drill, I dont know of to many schools with those anymore. But its ok to teach Sex Ed, Hand out condoms and discuss homosexuality, and drugs. I keep waiting to hear a "How to file for goverment benifits class"

How about we get back to letting teachers in school teach reading, writing, arithmetic, history and science. And let PARENTS teach about the rest, It is not the schools job or duty to be teaching about the family values or the teachers view on politics, AND while were at it throw away NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND. If they fail hold them back if they smart off to a teach suspend them the first time the second time toss them out. Hard when a teacher has 28 they can help but 4 are holding the class back.

[Outside Bend]

Again, the link provided makes no mention of classrooms teaching family values or politics, just safety. The program is endorsed, funded, and put on through the National Rifle Association, and although I've had limited exposure with the group, I don't think they're dumb enough to undermine their pro-gun political agenda with an anti-gun school program.

We send kids to school to learn math, science, english etc because not all parents are qualified to teach those subjects. Why would gun safety be any different? Some parents may know a lot about guns, some may have little or no experience. Frankly, the girl in the original video could probably do a better job teaching gun safety than I could, or many of the folks I know. Given different levels of experience, familiarity, and safety among parents, why wouldn't we want a qualified, experienced individual to come in and teach students about guns and gun safety?

I guess I look at the news, and every incident from Dick Cheney to the guy at Duck Creek a few months back, and figure it never hurts to keep hammering the message of gun safety. The more folks making it a priority, and the more folks talking about it, the better.

[hank franklin]

How about we get back to letting teachers in school teach reading, writing, arithmetic, history and science. And let PARENTS teach about the rest.

Uh, my point exactly.

[Haris122]

I don't see what the big fuss is. If it helps prevent some kid from shooting his/her brother/sister, then it obviously benefits both kids, the family, and the school district. After all, some kid's parents are about as careful from keeping a loaded firearm out of the hands of their kids, as Homer SImpson (loaded revolver in the vegetable drawer in the fridge).

[hank franklin]

If my local school district wanted to bring in a police officer on occasion to talk to kids about gun safety, I'd say sure, go for it.

Oh, wait, my local school district already does that.

What I object to is making this a STATE LAW. Is the DARE program a state law? No. Lots of schools do it but it's not required. When it comes to schools I am all about local control. This is one more intrusion on that.

Secondarily, it seems the fine senator's proposal is a perverse argument for more gun control. If in fact the STATE needs to teach kids about gun safety because the ignorant parents can't do it for themselves, then what right does such an ignorant parent have to a gun in the first place?

[fishinwrench]

If in fact the STATE needs to teach kids about gun safety because the ignorant parents can't do it for themselves, then what right does such an ignorant parent have to a gun in the first place?

Score!