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Gun safety needs to be taught in schools: essay by 8th grader

CapitalCityWeekly.com - Southeast Alaska's Online Newspaper

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Gun safety needs to be taught in schools

By Corby Abel Floyd Dryden Student | Capital City Weekly

Picture yourself as a small child happily playing with a strange, new toy in you house. A moment later you're crying in the corner. You just shot your best friend. If you're an adult with kids you're probably thinking, "That couldn't be my kid...my kid would never do that." But what if your kid wasn't the one with the gun? Too many children don't know what to do around guns. All schools should institute gun safety classes.
If people knew how to use guns safely the number of gun related accidents would decrease dramatically. A 12-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed by his 6-year-old cousin. If this boy had been taught gun safety his cousin might be alive today. And again in 2005 another 12-year-old boy was shot and killed while playing with a friend. I ran into too many stories like those. All of these could have been prevented if the child with the gun had known what to do with it. We've come a long way from the 1,501 deaths in 1908 caused by gun accidents, but we still have a long way to go. We can't stop until every child can make the right decision in a bad situation. Not only would the teaching of gun safety classes in schools prevent deaths, and injuries from gun accidents, but it would also prove that we shouldn't be focusing on gun control.
Gun control is not the problem. "How [guns] are used is up to the person holding it...a violent person doesn't need a gun to be violent," said a writer on topics-mag's Web site. The Second Amendment of the Constitution states, " A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right o the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Even if it was the right thing to get rid of guns altogether we would be contradicting the Constitution. People have the right to own a gun. Gun control wouldn't be a problem if people knew how to use guns; Floyd Dryden Middle School students agree.
Floyd Dryden students think that gun safety is important to be taught all over the country. Over 75% of students who went through a gun safety program think that it should be taught in schools throughout the United States. Mr. Milliron, principal at Floyd Dryden, and a supporter of gun safety said, "Guns are part of our culture...I think that you should go through firearm safety [before buying a gun]...I'm pleased with how many government volunteers take their time for the program." Milliron helped to get Floyd Dryden involved in the gun safety program. Mr. Casperson, a teacher at Floyd Dryden, agrees with Milliron: "Learning how to properly handle firearms at a young age is good." He was sure that they should be taught in Alaska, because "A lot of families have [guns] in homes... If it helps one kid [make the right decision around a gun] its certainly worth it." All schools need to be teaching gun safety. Gun related accidents would decrease, people would stop focusing on gun control, even students agree that gun safety should be taught. With gun control education in schools, more kids and even adults will make the right decision when dealing with guns. It would save lives, trips to the hospitals, and terrible memories.

Corby is a student at Floyd Dryden Middle School in Juneau, Alaska.
His school principals email address is millirot@jsd.k12.ak.us everyone should drop him a note of thanks.

Gun safety needs to be taught in the home. Same with some other education, I don't want someone teaching the fringe stuff to my child. Who knows what the agenda would be of the teacher, and some real misinformation could be imparted by education system. Just my opinion.

Parenting means just that. Not passing the tough stuff off to the public schools. Good article, though.

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Originally Posted by skullcrusher (Post 258111)

As a firearms instructor, the basics are pretty universal. I teach NRA but I prefer Jeff Cooper:

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1.All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.
2.Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.)
3.Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60 percent of inadvertent discharges.
4.Identify your target, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.

Those will do. We need all four and we do not need five. It should not be necessary to belabor this issue, but life is not perfect. – Jeff Cooper,

As far as the politics of firearms I agree, that is up to the parents. But I view this the same as fire safety, but with the caveat of not only preventing accidents, but also keep the statistics on our side.

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Originally Posted by RomeoTango (Post 258120)

As a firearms instructor, the basics are pretty universal. I teach NRA but I prefer Jeff Cooper:

As far as the politics of firearms I agree, that is up to the parents. But I view this the same as fire safety, but with the caveat of not only preventing accidents, but also keep the statistics on our side.

If the rules of firearms handling are posted in every classroom for all kids to read, I have no problem with that. I am not a religious person, and I nave no issue with the 10 Commandments being posted either. Good guidance is good guidance.

Great point, Romeo. :) The Fire Department always does fire safety at my kid's school. I would like to see the Sheriff's Dept do the same with gun safety, as long as the agenda has nothing to do with asking my kid about guns in my house.

I don't know if any of you have heard of the "Eddie Eagle" program, it is a program from the NRA that is available to be taught to elementary kids on gun safety. Glasshartt taught it for a couple of years when she was a school resource officer (police officer assigned to a school). It is a great program and I think should be taught at every school in the nation.

Kids are never going to be taught firearms safety in the home any more than they are taught not to trust strangers.

Kids should be taught in school from 1st grade on that firearms are dangerous and the basic safety tenants of NRA. This should be mandatory education and come high school, they should be taught to shoot.

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Originally Posted by skullcrusher (Post 258132)

I would like to see the Sheriff's Dept do the same with gun safety, as long as the agenda has nothing to do with asking my kid about guns in my house.

I never even thought of that. A real good point, because some jurisdiction might not be as firearms friendly as others. I would much rather have a child come tell a parent about a found weapon, without touching it than the alternative.

Could you see a class like the OP in, say, Chicago? Or D.C.?:eek:

I am a teacher at my church. I work with high school boys. It is a program called the royal rangers. It is similar to the Boy Scouts. But it is with the Assemblies of God. We take kids camping. We have badges that are earned. The first of the gun series is firearms safety, next is bb gun marksmanship. The final badge is 22 rifle. I am trying to plan an outing with my high school boys to go to the pistol range. The church supports it. My time is just hard to come by. Most churches around here are pro gun. When I go to a jail and prison ministry meeting, if we are not inside the jail, almost everybody has a gun.

I believe all aspects of basic martial instruction should be encouraged and compulsory at the primary and secondary education levels,as well as available at tertiary institutes.

Not only should it include basic weapons handling and procedure,but it should also include basic un-armed combat skills,survival skills,communications knowledge and drill.

It was compulsory at my school,so why not everywhere else where there is a high proportion of firearms-related incidents.

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Originally Posted by fixdeluxe1 (Post 264860)

This is actually a good idea in most schools. In some school districts, this would be fatal. Like the Los Angeles Schools as I spent many years in.
Gangs would be trained in martial arts along with those who need it to survive. Using intimidation everyday to bully everybody else.
I learned martial arts in my freshman year only after getting my tail whipped almost everyday for 6 months. After using training when needed, the next 3 years went great. Because the gangs did not have it. That was the "edge" that this skinny white boy had. And word got around quickly.
As for the firearms training, my Father did that. But also taught the respect that is needed when owning a firearm. Could you imagine training school kids in safe handling ? All that would achieve is gang bangers not shooting themselves or fellow gang members. More innocent students taking bullets and the school district taught them how to be safer shooters.

This topic is a very sharp double edged sword IMO..