A bill that would add gun safety classes to school curriculums passed the Utah House last week, cruising through at 59-10.
HB0104 mandates that schools offer firearm safety instruction focusing on safe handling and proper storage of guns.
Firearm safety instruction would be developed and overseen by the State Board of Education. The bill calls for any instruction to be age-appropriate based on grade level and available for kindergarten through sixth grade,
As it stands, schools would be required to host firearm safety classes at least three times at the elementary level, twice in middle school, and once in high school. Instructors leading the courses would have flexibility in how they present the course – online, in person, etc. – but all classes must be politically neutral.
The classes are not mandatory for students. Parents can opt their children out of the instruction, and the school will provide alternative activities for those students.
Bill sponsor Rep. Rex. P Shipp (R) said that the bill aims to make it easier for guns to learn about safe gun practices that could keep them and others safe.
“And even if kids may not have firearms in their own home, they’re going to go to a friend’s house and (maybe) they’re going to come in contact (with a gun),” Shipp told Desert News. “This is about safety — It’s politically neutral. It’s not anti-gun. It’s not pro-gun.”
But opponents say kids should not be the ones policing guns.
“Let’s pass bills that require adults to act responsibly — not ones that require children to act responsibly and permit adult gun owners to act irresponsibly,” Nika Alder, a board member of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, said during public comment.
Shipp agreed with Alder that adults should advocate for firearms safety but offered that if a few firearm safety courses prevented at least one accident, “I think it’s well worth it.”
Should firearms safety be integrated into school curriculums? Let us know what you think in the comments below. For more on what’s happening in the gun world, check out our News page.
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20 year self-defense firearms trainer incl. Utah for many years and Gun Safety SHOULD be taught as part of life skills! Every time a firearm is purchased, a free gun safety class should be included but just like automobiles...just put them in control and let's video. We already know of the useless subjects taught in schools and the subjects that SHOULD be part of education like how to budget your money, how to change a flat tire, and how to save a life! At least Utah has perfect sense and when I leave Las Vegas, Utah is where it's at!
I don’t understand what has happened? When I was in high school most pickups in the parking lot had a rifle in the rack in the back window. I took hunters education in middle school.
Let’s protect the kids from the dreadful guns, but we will carve your body up and let grown men dressed as women twirk in your face???
Good job Utah and thank God somebody has some common sense.
Absolutely this should be part of the school curriculum. If it wasn’t for my late father that was a police officer and also a target shooter, I wouldn’t have had any training in firearms. My Buffalo NY elementary or high school didn’t offer anything like it.
The gun control mantra has always been "... if it saves just one child's life ..."
How can you NOT think that a gun safety class teaching children the potential danger and how to react in a safe manner would not save a LOT of lives?
>> But opponents say kids should not be the ones policing guns. ... “Let’s pass bills that require adults to act responsibly — not ones that require children to act responsibly ...."
We can't live like life is *the way we WANT it, but the way it IS" and kids NEED to learn how to be safe in many environments. We teach kids to cross streets safely because we recognize adults do NOT always act responsibly ~~ or just because it is a necessary life skill. We teach them to use electricity, run hot water ... so many potential dangers that we accept as part of life. Well, guns ARE in their lives (responsibly or not) so they are better served being educated and capable than ignorant and at greater risk.
When I was in high school my brother brought a Lever Action rifle to school for an English class for a class for a demonstration of how to use the gun…. How things have changed…