Programs like this have been around for a long time. I've seen multiple documentaries that tested their effectiveness by putting a child who'd been in the program in a room with a gun and a hidden camera. The vast majority of the kids went straight for the gun (which was either a fake gun or a real one, but unloaded and disabled) and picked it up. They probably weren't thinking "Hey, now I can shoot someone!" - more likely, they were just curious - but that's how fatal accidents happen.

The same is true for the old "stranger danger" programs. I saw one of the 1990's talk shows that interviewed parents who'd taught their children not to talk with strangers, much less go somewhere with them. But a hidden camera showed every one of these parents' children walking off with an unknown adult very soon after the adult asked the child to help find his missing puppy. Some of them walked off right away. It was heartbreaking.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have programs that teach gun safety - only that from what I've seen, they're borderline useless with children.

will never outweigh the strong if implicit message of "Guns are a totem of adulthood."

This will only raise interest in guns in students!

When my great grandson was five he was telling me that it’s dangerous to touch a gun if you see one. I don’t know if he got that info at school or home but I was glad he told me. Now that he’s 12 he likes to shoot with a bee bee gun when he comes out to my land. It’s good for kids to learn gun safety.

Yrs ago, when I worked at Carrie Tingley Children’s Hospital in Albq we had. 5 yr old girl come in for long term rehab -she was partially paralyzed from a gun shot - her 7 yr old sister shot her. Their mom was a super mom who rarely ever left kids with baby sitter - she went to bingo one night to come home to see ambulance at her house. She never had a gun in her house - her husband’s friend hid his gun over a doorway while visiting & the 3 kids saw him hide it. Another friend who recently died in her early 80’s lost her toddler when a neighbor’s child came to her house with a gun and killed her child in his own house.

This is NM so we probably have more guns than many states but I’m definitely for gun safety for kids.

My Mother had a cousin who at 7 shot and killed his 5 year old brother. The brothers found their father’s gun and while playing with it one brother accidentally shot and killed his brother. His Mother never forgave him and I remember him as a handsome man who was always sad looking. As a teacher I still am nervous about kids being around guns.

A safety course is so important. It teaches how to make a gun safe. So many kids are killed accidentally when they find a gun that is not stored safe by the owners.

Goddam first amendment rights, my ass! How bout some first amendment penalties?

I instilled in my daughter the danger of firearms since she was a toddler, and when I took her to buy her first hunting shotgun a few years ago, she wouldn't even touch it when the salesman tried to hand it to her over the counter. Only when I gave her permission did she accept it.

and that holds true right up through adulthood...



but kudos for teaching your daughter right!

Every state already has a very comprehensive 20 hour class on gun safety that costs about $20.
It's called Hunter safety, but actually it's almost entirely about recognising and how to safely handle and use all types of firearms.
The instructors are always very experienced.

Every kid should know, don't touch it, go tell an adult.