Tennessee Bill Would Require Public Schools to Teach Gun Safety Course
“would be taught primarily through videos and online resources”
Republicans should be pushing this in every state legislature that they control.
FOX News reports:
Public school students in this state could soon be required to take gun safety courses
The Tennessee state legislature passed a bill, which is now headed to the governor’s desk, requiring public schools to teach “age-appropriate and grade-appropriate” gun safety courses to students starting next year.
“We see this proposed legislation as a critical step in averting firearm related accidents while fostering greater awareness and responsibility among gun owners,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chris Todd, a Republican, said in a February hearing.
The Tennessee Senate passed HB 2882 in a 24-3 vote on Thursday after the bill made its way through the House in February. If signed by Gov. Bill Lee, the courses will begin in the 2025-2026 school year.
The gun safety classes would be taught primarily through videos and online resources and would teach things like firearm storage, school safety, and how to avoid getting hurt if a student finds a gun and to immediately notify an adult if a gun is found. The bill stipulates the lessons will “not include the use or presence of live ammunition, live fire, or live firearms.”
“This curriculum would be developed to instruct children on how to properly stay away from a firearm if they happen to see a firearm, and what to do as far as reporting if they find a firearm,” Republican Sen. Paul Bailey said during Thursday’s session.
The bill requires that lessons be “viewpoint neutral on political topics, such as gun rights, gun violence, and the Second Amendment.”
Senate Republicans voted against an amendment that would have allowed parents to opt children out of the training.
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About ten years ago, Alan Korwin and AzCDL strongly pushed a bill AUTHORIZING (not requiring) the teaching of gun safety and marksmanship in Arizona schools. In what was then a supermajority Republican state, it was passed without much effective pushback. The number of classes taught under this law’s authority between then and now: zero. To the state’s educational administrators, it was like giving the kids garlic and holy water.
In today’s slight majority legislature, with a woke governess who vetoes her own cafeteria’s menus, there is zero chance of making this stronger.
Sounds like they want to put the children through some form of Eddie Eagle program.
Good idea. Eddie Eagle is proven to work,
That’s why the Marxists refer to him in lockstep as “Joe Camel with feathers.”
Went to a private Catholic high school in Texas. Gun and Hunter’s Safety was a mandatory course!
I’ve always been a strong supporter of teaching everyone the fundamentals of gun safety along with how different firearms work. This doesn’t mean you have to force all kids to have a range day but everyone should know how they work.
So it’s actually anti-gun propaganda, designed to make kids afraid of guns? Can you imagine driver’s ed that doesn’t involve live cars, and focuses on teaching kids to stay away from cars?
The “keep away” stuff is standard safety for kids. I don’t entirely agree, but it’s the same as the Eddie Eagle safety bits.
And we do teach kids “car safety” by keeping them away from cars. We insist they don’t play in the street and they don’t walk in the street if they can help it.
The difference is that we think there’s an age appropriate spot for teaching them to drive that isn’t absolutely at 18yo. Unlike firearms where we insist they suddenly become responsible with guns without raising them into it.
Very young kids, sure. But even they should be shown positive images of adults handling guns.
But this is not just for the very young grades. It already says the education should be “age-appropriate”, but then goes on to forbid education that is actually appropriate to the ages of the older grades. Instead they’re to be presented with the same Eddie Eagle message, when they should be learning how to handle guns safely, how to hit what you’re shooting at, etc.
“Can you imagine driver’s ed that doesn’t involve live cars, and focuses on teaching kids to stay away from cars?”
Yes — at certain age levels. The same ones that Eddie Eagle is aimed at.
In fact, many years’ datasets show that fewer children under age 5 die from handgun accidents (~5 annually) than are killed while DRIVING (that’s right, DRIVING) motor vehicles (~9 annually).
And don’t forget — the government is here to help you. That’s why more children have been killed by government-mandated airbags since 1993 than in all school shootings.
And that “at certain age levels” is what I think we’re all in agreement about. There comes a point where they should be learning how to exercise their rights responsibly – and that’s not suddenly at 18 (or even 21).
I agree heartily. But these people are treading the same path Arizona did. At least Tennessee mandated the training. In Arizona, we couldn’t even have achieved that much, not over McCain Machine politicians, and we knew it at the time. I suspect the Tennessee bill’s sponsors also had a good feeling for what they would and would not be allowed to pass… this year.
A gun safety class without range time is like drivers education without getting in a car.
Add to that a Senior level required course on American Government, to study the Constitution and the Declaration. My school had this in 1982 – one of the best classes I took.
American Government with a required test on the Constitution was a 7th Grade class when I was growing up. The 8th Grade class covered the State Constitution.
This is a good idea, as long as it isn’t the stopping point.
Now they need to quietly work on converting some portion of the legislature into understanding 2A in light of the militia (while not limiting it to the militia) and moving towards actual firearms training for all students (with opt-outs taking mandatory medical training – or home-ec).
Combine that with removing the “gun free zones” from schools, and you’d go a long way to restoring a civil society.
A great idea!
The first time I shot a gun was at the high school’s shooting range.
Ditto, except it was in college. Before that, only a BB rifle.
Since the ’80s (I think), MIT has had an unofficial “Pirate Certificate” issued by its PE department. It’s for students who spend their four quarters of mandatory PE taking Pistol, Fencing, Archery, and Crew. Had they offered this when I was there, I would have eschewed my second quarter of Fencing for Crew, just for the bragging rights. Arrrrr.
cant wait until the g start holding it sideways and claiming racism for it being taught any other way
Make firearm handling a part of the normal core curriculum. Firearm handling begins with safety, then moves on to manipulating (loading, unloading, etc.) and firing. It is like learning other basic tools. One need not own a car or computer or book or pencil, but we still expect everyone to have at least basic familiarity.
My take is simple: school is for learning how to exercise your adult rights and responsibilities (including how to contribute by being productive) properly and competently. Schools have no hesitancy “teaching” you how to write letters to your congressman (usually always promoting some bullshit liberal cause). They should have not a word to say about being made to teach you how to exercise your 2A rights safely competently, either.
I have advocated for this for several years and I believe it should be taught starting with preschool children and the Eddie Eagle program. It should continue a few years later with more education, and I believe kids should be taught how to handle a gun safely. Know the rules and practice them. Eventually, I’d like to see the education teach kids how guns work, how to dismantle and reassemble them, clean them, and eventually shoot them if they choose. If we take the mystery out of guns, kids won’t be wanting to examine the “forbidden fruit” of the forbidden gun. It will just become another tool they need to treat with respect. I’d like to see the option of “rifle teams” brought back to schools, with schools competing against one another. That is the way it used to be, before there were school shootings or gang wars. For the past few years, my former hometown in upstate NY has promoted a shooting club that shoots targets and clay pigeons and they compete against other schools. Yep, good old New York State with some of the worse most restrictive gun laws in the country, but there are still some who believe in proper safe gun use.