The constant problem of gun violence in the United States has reached epidemic proportions; mass shootings are becoming such a daily occurrence that people are becoming desensitized to them. There have been many different suggestions about how to address the problem of gun violence; some people believe that gun safety should be taught in schools, beginning from K-12. Opponents of these plans make many arguments, including the danger of having guns on campuses at all, even for the purposes of demonstration. In addition, they say, bringing guns demonstrate safety may have the effect of glamorizing the use of arms. This paper will make the case that gun safety programs in school are a bad idea for a variety of reasons.
Although the NRA makes the case that “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun”, it does not seem productive or beneficial to address the gun problem by arming more people. There are way too many guns on the street as it is, and if more people were carrying weapons the chances of misfiring or missing a target, i.e. the “ bad guys,” are great because in a situation where there is some type of emergency occurring, most people panic and are not thinking clearly or acting rationally. In addition, the NRA sponsors a figure called “Eddie Eagle” that is designed to teach children about gun safety using a character that is entertaining and cartoonish, making the issue appear much more trivial than it actually is. Clearly, when children are presented with something that only adults are supposed to do, like drinking or smoking, it makes them want to do that even more, and could actually increase the desire of young people to appear older by becoming involved with guns (Moore, 2013.)
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"Gun Safety Programs in Schools".
There have been at least 80 school districts since 1992 that have been using the “Eddie Eagle” figure to try to instruct children about gun safety; that translates into more than 1000 schools nationally. However, critics of the program and other less famous gun education programs for kids in school claim that there is absolutely no evidence that gun education alone reduces gun violence or gun related injuries (Moore, 2013.) Other opponents of the program are concerned that unloaded guns in the school for the purposes of demonstrations are worrisome, because seeing guns in the hands of the adults that children trust may convey the message that it is acceptable to be carrying weapons, even in the school.
I personally don’t think that school programs for gun safety are necessary or effective because I believe that it is much more effective when parents are involved in teaching their children about gun safety. It is usually guns that are already in the home that result in children having accidents, injuries, or deaths because the guns have not been stored properly. There are many examples of children who grabbed a gun in the home and shot another child or were killed themselves. These are examples of parents being irresponsible about storing guns in the home, and teaching their children about the deadly nature of guns. Like sex education, if parents believe that their children are learning all about gun safety in school, they are likely going to shirk their obligation to address the topic with their own children.
The fact is that it is hard to know what to do to prevent gun violence besides limiting the number of guns that are available to everyone. In our country it is so easy to just purchase a gun by mail or the Internet, or buy on at a gun show. Educating children in school about gun safety is likely to only spark more of an interest in firearms, and make them more intrigued about this forbidden object. It is up to parents to provide their children with information about the dangers of guns, how they should be kept, and convey the message that the children are absolutely forbidden even touch a gun. School gun programs shown no evidence of being successful in reducing gun violence, so that perhaps parents took more of an active role in their children about the issue, there might be less availability of weapons to those children.
- Moore, C. (2013, August 20). To Teach or Not Teach Gun Safety in Schools. Retrieved from ABC News.com: http://abcnews.go.com
