Wyoming senate wants to introduce gun-safety courses into 5th grade curriculum

[GlassOnion]

Neat! I don't think it'll ever happen but it's a good idea all the same.

9NEWS.com | Denver | Colorado's Online News Leader | Wyoming Senate wants 5th graders to learn gun safety

I'd like to hear more of the logistics: overall safety, curriculum [could you stretch gun safety into a semester course?], whether the students would be allowed to fire a gun towards the end, how the guns they'd use to teach the course would be altered, and so on.

 

[Fran101]

My highschool had a required "life skills" class.
(things like budgeting, cooking, finding a job, saving money, finding an apartment, investing in stock, changing a tire, first aid etc...)

and there was a small lesson on gun safety. (where the safety was, how to store them) as well as some health stuff on what to do with a gun wound

I think it was an interesting course that was very useful and I think its important for kids to know. Guns aren't toys. and they will look a lot less like "OMG SO COOL!" if kids know about them

 

[Renee750il]

The only obvious caveat I see (other than it being more controversial than teaching sex education was) is that a class is only as good as the teacher . . .

 

[GlassOnion]

Yup, but I think even a bad teacher would be better than no teacher.

I doubt a horrible teacher would last long if he was telling the students to shoot each other. Word of that would probably get out.

 

[Renee750il]

Kind of like even a bad drivers' ed teacher is better than none?

 

[Lilavati]

I like the idea of including it in a basic life skills. Just things like where the safety is, how to store a gun, "the gun is always loaded," etc. In a place like Wyoming, that seems both reasonable and unobjectionable. Things like how to load and fire . . . that seems more like a gun ownership class, rather than plain "safety." Just like I think basic "dog safety" should be taught as well.


And both should be taught before high school. When you hear about those tragic gun accidents with kids, its not high schoolers, its younger children that don't realize how dangerous the gun is. High schoolers, when they shoot each other, usually do so on purpose, or because they are careless with a gun that they supposedly know how to use. This is something people should learn young, like look both ways before you cross the street.

 

[GlassOnion]

Kind of like even a bad drivers' ed teacher is better than none?

Yes. You want people hopping in cars who've absolutely no idea what they're doing? I think we've enough of that already.

At least a bad driver's ed teacher might get a rule of the road or two to stick.

 

[Renee750il]

I'm thinking of all the bad habits a bad teacher teaches

 

[Whisper]

I think another reason it's good is that little Jimmy won't sneak into the gun cabinet and run off with his contraband, shooting his foot off in the process. Based on what I know through growing up, kids aren't as sneaky or obsessed about things that are brought out into the open.

 

[Renee750il]

I think it's definitely a good idea to teach overall, but that a few bad teachers are apt to ruin it for everyone.

 

[Nechochwen]

I think it's a pretty good idea. I learned gun safety as soon as I was big enough to hold my grandma's .22, and got taught it again later in boy scouts. It's a very easy thing to learn and to teach. Besides, there would be a lot less people who get hysterical at the mention of guns if they just knew how they worked and didn't view them as magical wands of death.

 

[Romy]

I think it's a pretty good idea. I learned gun safety as soon as I was big enough to hold my grandma's .22, and got taught it again later in boy scouts. It's a very easy thing to learn and to teach. Besides, there would be a lot less people who get hysterical at the mention of guns if they just knew how they worked and didn't view them as magical wands of death.

^ This. Our middle school had a gun safety class in 7th grade. It was excellent, and a lot of kids came out of it more confident and less afraid of the "mysterious death wands".

It also helped the image of our English teacher, who was flaming gay and constantly got harassed by students about it. They were oddly respectful of him after learning he was so knowledgeable about firearms. :rofl1: Not sure if it made him seem more macho or what.

My dad took all the mystery out of guns by making us clean them. We were like "nuuuu! chores!" and stayed far away if he left a rifle leaning in the corner, lol.

 

[ACooper]

I think it's a good idea in theory.........but as a parent, I don't know if I'd be comfortable with my own children learning this from the public school system. I would definitely make it my business to see the curriculum in advance, meet and discuss things with the instructor before I agreed to let my child attend. Same as I did for 'sex education' which IMO, wasn't much of an education! LOL, we were sure to go over all kinds of 'sex ed' with our kids before they ever took that class...........as it should be IMO.

I believe parents should keep up with ANYTHING their children are being taught in ANY school.........too many parents send their kids off with a kiss and don't have a clue of what goes on for the next 6-7 hours with their kids unless there's an issue where the schools calls them. Is it any wonder the public schools are in such a state in many places?

So yeah, in theory this sounds excellent but in practice? IDK.........knowing how certain corporations operate, the kids are likely to get just enough 'education' to be dangerous instead of safer

 

[Whisper]

I think it's a good idea in theory.........but as a parent, I don't know if I'd be comfortable with my own children learning this from the public school system. I would definitely make it my business to see the curriculum in advance, meet and discuss things with the instructor before I agreed to let my child attend.

I'm not a parent, but putting myself in the place of one (as best as I can) I definitely agree with this.

I never a had a gun safety class in school. They lumped guns with violence and violence with drugs. "Don't look, don't touch or you'll end up in a gang and be eaten by bears while you're sleeping in a shopping cart because you tried drugs and have no home or education" sort of thing.

 

[GlassOnion]

knowing how certain corporations operate, the kids are likely to get just enough 'education' to be dangerous instead of safer

What do corporations have to do with this?

 

[ACooper]

What do corporations have to do with this?

SCHOOL corporations IE...South Bend School Corporation......Michigan City School Corporation....Elkhart School Corporation....etc etc I can't speak for all states (though I'd imagine it's similar/same) but you'll find wide margins and differences in how things are done and/or how money is spent depending on officials (superintendents and such) from one corp to the next even though they maybe located in the same state.

 

[GlassOnion]

Are schools really arranged as corporations in other parts of the country or are you being metaphorical? They're arranged as 'districts' down here.

 

[Renee750il]

Never been anywhere that schools were organized in corporations! Always districts.

 

[ACooper]

Are schools really arranged as corporations in other parts of the country or are you being metaphorical? They're arranged as 'districts' down here.

We have school districts as well, but generally speaking, will be titled as "xxxxxx community school corporation"

Some example sites of various school corps:
https://www.edline.net/pages/SouthBendCSC/

Linton-Stockton School Corporation

LaPorte Community School Corporation

Notice the word "corporation" in all their titles? It's not a naughty word or anything, LOL, but it does conjure negativity IMO due to big businesses.

Definition of CORPORATION
1a : a group of merchants or traders united in a trade guild
b : the municipal authorities of a town or city

2: a body formed and authorized by law to act as a single person although constituted by one or more persons and legally endowed with various rights and duties including the capacity of succession

3: an association of employers and employees in a basic industry or of members of a profession organized as an organ of political representation in a corporative state

 

[Lilavati]

SCHOOL corporations IE...South Bend School Corporation......Michigan City School Corporation....Elkhart School Corporation....etc etc I can't speak for all states (though I'd imagine it's similar/same) but you'll find wide margins and differences in how things are done and/or how money is spent depending on officials (superintendents and such) from one corp to the next even though they maybe located in the same state.

Do you have privitized schools or are they non-profits?

Honestly, I agree about the bad teachers and questionable interests to some extent . . .that's why I'd only want basic safety taught in school (the gun is always loaded, here is how to put the safety on, here is a safe way to store a gun, when in doubt, ask an adult for help . . .that sort of thing, and not how to load and shoot. I'll get my Dad or my uncle to teach that, or hire a private instructor if my kid wants to learn how to USE a gun.)