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cab67

(3,537 posts)
1. Necessary? Maybe. Effective? Doubtful.
Sat Nov 8, 2025, 12:48 PM
Nov 8

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.

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