What do children know of guns? A suggestion for one small step.

[1-Old-Man]

I've been trying to think through a comment made by a fellow DUer, "TheCowsCameHome". The comment was to the effect that it might be desirable to develop a gun safety class for schools.

"How's that for a suggestion that will immediately bring angry howls from both sides?", my wife asked when I recounted it to her this morning. But I thought of it a bit differently and thought it might be a good idea. I'd like to explain and see what you all think.

First off I'm not thinking about a gun safety class in the sense that it would show children how to safely handle guns, nope, that's not at all what I had in mind. I'm thinking teaching gun safety in the same sense that we teach very young children about "Mr. Yuck" and household poisons that abound in many homes; I'm thinking about teaching gun safety in the same sense that we teach safe sex and the danger of AIDS.

And here is why I think that might be a good idea. First off essentially no young children (and I mean the early school-age) receive any sort of firearms instruction at all. Their knowledge of firearms comes near exclusively from television and to a lessor extent from movies. And what do they see? Near constant carnage with no consequences. Someone has a problem, the gun comes out, Ka-Bang, problem solved. The good guy always wins and the bad guy always loses and the gun is the tool that ends any and all discomforts. Absent any training to the contrary why would a child believe otherwise. What would make a child think that this thing they just found in Daddy's drawer could hurt them or a friend - that it is just as dangerous as that Mr. Yuck stuff in the bottle under the sink or out in the garage?

Might not it be a good idea to teach take a little bit of time to teach our children enough of the dangers of guns that they would know to avoid them?

I'm not saying this would be much of a step in the right direction but maybe such training would stop little Bobby shooting little Suzy somewhere some time, and even one such incident avoided would be worth the cost. That's my current thinking. What say you.

[upaloopa]

1. Do these kids have parents?

You completely left parents out of the teaching role.

[1-Old-Man]

3. I think its a very rare thing for a parent to teach their children about guns.

[badtoworse]

2. I learned firearms safety and marksmanship in high school

Younger children should be taught not to touch firearms, but get help from an adult if they encounter one.

[Brickbat]

4. The NRA has an Eddie Eagle program that is used for young children.

His mantra is, "Stop. Don't touch. Leave the area, tell an adult," which my kids still sing to be silly. I'm not sure if my kids saw it in school -- it's meant for kids pre-K to third grade.

My kids also took a firearms safety course which was, IIRC, a joint effort between the DNR and a local gun club.

[Lee-Lee]

5. This may be the rare time when DU and the NRA are on the same page

Their Eddie Eagle program does just that- tells kids who see a gun to stop, not touch, tell an adult.

My old SO used to do it every year in the elementary schools.

You could duplicate it it without using the NRA, but you would be reinventing the wheel.

Sadly, simply because the NRA does it many strongly object to it- even calling it the 'Joe Camel of Guns", which from someone who has seen the program actually run I can tell you it is nonsense. But because the NRA runs it many will oppose everything the NRA does no matter what, so they end up pushing this aside in favor of no education.

Here is the video- nothing "Joe Camel" about it.

This is the stuff we should be supporting the NRA when they do, to encourage more it and maybe change them a little.

[surrealAmerican]

6. They already do this in the early elementary grades here.

It's come in handy in the few instances that guns have been found by children on school grounds, probably in other circumstances, too, but I don't recall hearing about those.

[brownl]

7. agree

If there is gun in our family and I think we should tell kids to konw the risk of it and how to use it[url=http://www.anykeylogger.com/how-to-monitor-employee.html].[/url]