Arizona Senate Bill 1424 has passed the Senate and has passed the House Education Committee and the House Rules Committee. The bill requires school districts and charter schools to provide age-appropriate firearm safety awareness training in all grades, kindergarten through 12th grade.
The instruction is to be objective and not promote firearms ownership or any political position. The instruction is to be limited to accident prevention and personal safety awareness. It is to include guidance on safe firearms storage in homes and vehicles. The instruction is to provide guidance on what to do if a firearm is encountered, including not touching it and notifying an adult.
Inside the bill, there is a long list of restrictions on six things that may not be included in the instruction:
3. NOT INCLUDE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
(a) A LIVE FIREARM.
(b) AMMUNITION OR SIMULATED AMMUNITION.
(c) A DEMONSTRATION THAT INVOLVES HANDLING, OPERATING, LOADING, UNLOADING OR FIRING A FIREARM.
(d) INSTRUCTION THAT IS INTENDED TO TRAIN STUDENTS IN THE USE OF FIREARMS.
(e) A MORAL JUDGMENT REGARDING LAWFUL FIREARM POSSESSION.
(f) AN INQUIRY, SURVEY OR REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ABOUT WHETHER A STUDENT, STUDENT’S PARENT OR MEMBER OF THE STUDENT’S HOUSEHOLD OWNS, POSSESSES OR MAY POSSESS A FIREARM OR ABOUT THE FIREARMS STORAGE PRACTICES OF A STUDENT, STUDENT’S PARENT OR MEMBER OF THE STUDENT’S HOUSEHOLD.
The Arizona Citizens Defense League (AZCDL) supports the legislation.
An advocate for gun storage legislation made the argument that the legislature should pass a bill requiring safe storage of guns instead. The SB 1424 is considered a partisan bill, supported mostly by Republicans, according to Legiscan.
Fatal firearms accidents have declined greatly since the 1930’s high mark. The number of firearms per person has increased about 3X during that period.
Firearms are among the many hazards children encounter as they grow up. Education, not prohibition, is the surest answer to their safety.
The bill has passed the Arizona legislature, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans. Republicans have a 17-13 advantage in the Senate and a 33-27 advantage in the House. SB 1424 might avoid a veto from Governor Hobbs (D), but it seems unlikely. Governor Katie Hobbs has earned a reputation for the number of vetoes she has given. Governor Hobbs is facing serious re-election challenges. She might sign SB 1424 to claim she is not against rights protected by the Second Amendment.
SB 1424 severely restricts what may be taught to students. This may be necessary to secure passage in a legislature with a very small Republican majority.
The bill is a step toward greater understanding of firearms safety. It makes students more aware of firearms. It has the advantage of not being overtly against the ownership or use of firearms. As “age-appropriate” instruction on firearms safety, later grade levels might include information about the legal status of firearms in Arizona. It is difficult for people to obey the law if they do not know what the law is. Firearms are among the many potentially hazardous items children encounter as they grow up.
It is far better to gun-proof the child than to attempt to create a gun-free environment.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
Wonder how you could teach someone to ride a bicycle without using a bicycle? Kind of defies any common sense,someone put a lot of thought into this.
I’ll say it’s a good start to teach firearm safety in schools, when kids may be exposed to firearms in their home or in a friend’s home. I didn’t wait for someone else to teach my children concerning firearms safety since it was and is my responsibility as the parent to teach my children how to safely handle firearms at an early age. When we get together and go shooting the kids still remember my safety rules and they have picked up a few of their own. Be safe.
This is a step backwards. It has always always been the law that firearms safety be taught in public shools here in Arizona. But that duty of the Department of Education has been under attack since before I was born. First some time prior to 1950 the Dept.of Ed. delegated the course to the AZ. Game and Fish Dept. and the NRA, and it became elective, but it was still taught in the schools, i have an AZGFD safety manuel, cirica, 1950- 55, that instructs students, “When you bring your gun to school make sure it is unloaded and in… Read more »
Sounds like an idiotic bill, to me. Formal education is supposed to be cumulative: what, under this bill, are you gonna learn in the firearms safety class in 7th-grade that you didn’t learn in kindergarten and again in every year between? And what can you really learn about firearms & firearm safety without practical experience in handling & shooting a firearm? Shooting should be part of the PhysEd curriculum every year of high school, maybe every year of junior high/middle school, too, with no opt-outs allowed. High schools should have Target Shooting teams and compete with other schools just like… Read more »
According to the BRILIANT ORIGINATORS of OUR AMERICAN CONSTITUTION; EVERY state IS RESPONSIBLE to TEACH EVERY American EVERYTHING about handling and SHOOTING WEAPONRY! This FACT IS NOT TAUGHT! EVERY STATE HAS FAILED their FIDUCIARY DUTY!!
WHY CANNOT POLITICIANS NOT BE HELD TO A HIGHER LEVEL OF ACCOUNTABILITY?? WHY CANNOT POLITICIANS who bring/introduce ANTI-AMERICAN LAWS —- NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR BEING ANTI-AMERICAN-CONSTITUTIONALISTS?!?!?!?!??!
Contrast this with the Canadian woman who had the word “gun” removed from her first grader’s spelling/vocabulary list.
I played the Eddie Eagle video for my pre-K kids.
Stop
Don’t touch.
Leave the area.
Tell an adult.
I would sometimes come in the room and find they were playing it for themselves.
They came out mostly OK.
😉
To my knowledge, Arizona’s Wickenburg High School has the last remaining high-power (possibly any power) shooting team in a public high school in the USA. Arizona is not lost yet, and we’re fighting to keep it that way.
(Their website is here — the team is MUCH more active at shooting and competing than keeping it updated! Donations are tax-deductible — for Arizona residents, donations create tax CREDITS.)
So my question is. Who is going to monitor the class to make sure the demoncrap teacher doesn’t push her/his/its agenda against guns. Wording and especially gestures play a big role in how things are perceived. Will classes be videotaped and reviewed? If not, it is an excellent opportunity to push “guns are bad” especially when they are told do not touch one and get an adult. From the article: The bill requires school districts and charter schools to provide age-appropriate firearm safety awareness training in all grades, kindergarten through 12th grade. At age 13 I took a hunter education… Read more »
After carefull reading of Sen. Bill 1424,
the only points of any agreement are,
A,3,(f)
C,3
D and E are fine.
The rest of the bill is counter productive if not dangerous.
Lotta questions. Homeschoolers are exempt? Dumbass parents will be able to opt their children out? Curriculum / lesson materials will be approved by committee? Teachers do or don’t need any special training on subject matter? I am sure I can think up more, but I also can stop here for now.