The right to keep and bear arms is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and the words "shall not be infringed" mean exactly what they sound like they mean. I'll fight anyone who claims otherwise.
The flip side of that is that it's up to us to be responsible with our firearms, just as we're responsible for exercising all of our other rights. Unfortunately, a lot of people fail to do so, and with guns, that can end up resulting in people being injured or killed. That's where a proposal in Utah comes into play.
See, the problem with guns is that too few people actually know how to handle them safely.
As a result, a bill in Utah wants to start gun safety training as early as kindergarten:
Utah students in as early as kindergarten would be required to learn about firearm safety in the classroom under a bill that passed the state House with overwhelming support Friday.
The Republican-controlled chamber approved the measure in a 59-10 vote and sent it to the Senate, despite concerns from some gun violence prevention advocates that it places an undue burden on children.
Under the proposal, public school students would receive mandatory instruction throughout their K-12 years on how to respond if they encounter a gun. The lessons, which could be presented in a video or by an instructor displaying an actual firearm, would demonstrate best practices for safely handling and storing a gun to prevent accidents.
Elementary age children would learn about gun safety on at least three occasions by the time they reach sixth grade, with the possibility for that instruction to begin in kindergarten, when kids are around five years old.
The bill’s Republican sponsor, Rep. Rex Shipp of Cedar City, said it’s aimed at preventing accidental shootings by and of young children. The lessons, he said, will be age-appropriate for each grade level, with younger students learning to avoid touching a gun and alert an adult immediately.
“A lot of times when they don’t have any firearms in their homes or don’t do any hunting and shooting, then these kids are not taught what to do when they come in contact with a firearm,” Shipp said.
In an ideal world, something like this wouldn't be necessary because no one would be irresponsible with their firearms. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world, we're stuck with this one.
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My only gripe about this is that it only mandates they get these lessons three times before sixth grade when, in my opinion, it should be an annual thing just to make sure the lessons stick and to make sure no one misses them here or there due to illness or whatever.
That said, kids need to be taught.
"But if you all would lock your guns up, we wouldn't have a problem in the first place," your typical anti-gun moron might argue. They might also try to counter with mandatory storage laws that aren’t necessary. There's a problem with this mental disability disguised as thinking. See, every law-abiding gun owner can take all the steps you want them to take, but there are always criminals looking to ditch guns when the police are after them. They don't want to get caught with incriminating evidence, so they just toss it into the bushes or whatever.
They don't care about a kid possibly finding it. They just care about saving their own skin.
Teaching kids to know what to do and what not to do, though? That covers them no matter where they encounter a firearm.
