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.
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