Dean Weingarten reported the Arizona Legislature is trying, once again, to make gun safety education mandatory in K-12 public schools. We should all wish them well. Republicans have a one-seat majority in the Arizona Senate and a six-seat margin in the House. However, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is just as cuckoo for gun control as Michelle Lujan Grisham, her counterpart in New Mexico.
This is a shame: Ignorance is dominating public policy again.
Only three states, Tennessee, Utah, and Arkansas, currently require age-appropriate gun safety education. Tennessee was the first to take the plunge: Governor Bill Lee signed House Bill 2882 on April 23, 2024. On March 4 of last year, Arkansas House Bill 1117 became Act 229 when it was signed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Later that same month, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 104, completing the triad.
Kids in every state deserve the same benefits. At the very least, all the constitutional carry states should have similar requirements.
Of course, getting anything involving guns into public school curricula is going to be a challenge. The NEA will go ballistic: Every Chad and Karen at Hoplophobe High School will be grabbing pitchforks and torches to rail against what they consider the apocalypse.
These are the same folks who think disciplining a child for turning a Pop-Tart into a pretend gun is appropriate. Another example of zero tolerance being a fancy term for zero brains.
According to the CDC, there were 70 unintentional, firearm-related deaths among children ages newborn to ten in 2024. Sixty-one of those were children five years of age and younger. This doesn’t include non-fatal injuries, estimated to be two to four times the number of deaths. It also excludes violence-related deaths resulting from homicide, assault, or self-harm.
Those numbers tend to disappear when compared to the nearly 43 million youngsters in the 1-10 cohort. Nonetheless, the gun-grabbers think they’re sufficient to demand gun storage laws. Since education beats legislation, the numbers also justify the training programs.
One of the best things about the new training requirements is the requirement for neutrality. No GOA, no NRA, but also no Everytown, Giffords, or Brady.
The bill provides some specifics covering the new requirements:
“Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, this bill requires each LEA (Local Education Agency) and public charter school to annually provide students with age-appropriate and grade-appropriate instruction on firearm safety. The instruction must begin with the earliest appropriate grade, as determined by the departments above, and must continue in each subsequent grade through grade 12. The instruction required must do the following:
(1) Teach students safe storage of firearms, school safety relating to firearms, how to avoid injury if the student finds a firearm, to never touch a found firearm, and to immediately notify an adult of the location of a found firearm;
(2) Be viewpoint neutral on political topics, such as gun rights, gun violence, and the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution; and
(3) Not include the use or presence of live ammunition, live fire, or live firearms.
HB2882, now Public Chapter Number 800, prohibits the approval of any curriculum, program of instruction, or any instructional materials that have brands or identifiable organizational connections.
It is difficult to imagine three states better-suited to be in the vanguard of firearm safety education in K-12 public schools. All three are permitless carry states; all three have minimally intrusive gun laws; all three have positive attitudes toward citizens’ rights and lawful gun ownership.
Arkansas, Tennessee, and Utah bear close watching. They are the laboratory when it comes to gun safety instruction. Other states can use their experience to create their own programs, and we should all be leaning on our elected state legislators and officials to expand this effort to as many states as possible.
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About Bill Cawthon
Bill Cawthon first became a gun owner 55 years ago. He has been an active advocate for Americans’ civil liberties for more than a decade. He is the information director for the Second Amendment Society of Texas.
The sooner kids learn proper firearm safety the better.
Firearm safety is a good thing for all to know, the sooner the better. How would you do that without some sort of a firearm present? How about some sort of rendition of why the second amendment was written would also go far to righteously educate. A hunter safety course, which is already available in Arizona, is a good idea. Finally, marksmanship and range safety is a good idea. That would obviously mean live fire. I live fired a bb gun Red Ruder, a 22lr Marlin, a 38 special Smith, a 30 30 Marlin, a black powder ’51 navy and… Read more »
I grew up when high schools still had shooting ranges and rifle teams if a school had a team without a range they would use a clubs range or another’s schools range. Never did you read about any issues due to young folks learning to shoot and firearms training just another chance to compete if you so chose.
To some degree, annual instruction in firearms safety will normalize gun culture for many of these students. Certainly a higher percentage of students will grow up to accept gun culture than if there weren’t this instruction. However, maximizing the number of voters who then are likely to vote pro-2A will ramp up over the two decades from the time the first group receives the instruction. I guess ya gotta start SOMEwhere.
Don’t forget we had the NRA Eddie Eagle program in schools and liberals forced it out. This is not new it is getting back to the way it should be.
It is NOT the governments job to teach your kids firearms. That is not what school is for. Stop looking to the government to do everything for you. You are a parent, grandparent, uncle or whatever so take charge and teach them yourselves.
Over reliance on the government is the real problem
Live fire is an essential part of early childhood firearms safety education.
Even if they never fire a gun themselves, they Must At Least, see first hand the damage a bullet can do.
Shooting a grapefruit, full soda can, or similar object, and reminding them the human body is mostly water, is a simple and very effective way to acomplish this.
I’d suggest parents sign up their children to attend an AZ hunter safety course to round out the school gun safety curriculum. Parents would probably have to attend the course, depending on the ages of the children. I’ve sat through three 2-day hunter safety courses, and everyone got to handle and shoot pistols, rifles, shotguns and muzzle loaders.
The Supreme Court has sole authority to select the cases they hear. This authority is not found anywhere in Article III of the Constitution, as amended. Instead, the power to pick and choose was granted by Congress in the Judges’ Act of 1925, aka the Judiciary Act of 1925. As Congress giveth, so Congress can taketh away. The law can be repealed or amended: All that’s needed is the willingness of the House, Senate, and White House. The cause for action is obvious: By its continued failure to grant timely review to cases involving fundamental civil rights and liberties, the… Read more »
Quite ironic that the states that require firearm education also require “political neutrality.” This is happening while youngsters receive a great deal of political bias in the rest of classroom activity.