What do you think about this Colorado middle school’s program?
Other schools and states have been looking into bringing this program in as an educational opportunity also. Many people are outraged. From romper.com.
This month, a Colorado middle school brought guns to class for the third year in a row in order to teach students to use firearms, according to Colorado Springs news station KOAA. Working with pro-gun group Project Appleseedand the National Rifle Association (NRA), Craver Middle School hosts a three-day program for students that teaches them a trifecta of gun safety, how to shoot a gun, and American history, complete with a trip to the gun range. The reaction from the public has been decidedly mixed. Private gun ownership is legal and common in the United States, but should students really be learning how to use them?
“I think that it’s better for them to have a respect for it [and] know how to handle it,” Jim Heath, the program coordinator for Project Appleseed who worked with the students, told KOAA. “Not that they should [handle a gun], but that they are aware about the firearm. It’s not, ‘Oh, what’s this? What can we do with this?'”
Romper reached out to Craver for comment on the program but did not immediately hear back. A music teacher at the middle school, Timothy Baird, told another local news station, KRDO, that he supported the program, saying, “Often firearms and schools don’t mix. There’s a big fear there. So we are pushing the safety aspect and hopefully ease some people’s fears. Personally I think it’s a great step forward.”
My personal opinion is that it’s a brilliant idea! Children always have a natural curiosity, and its better for them to have the curiosity quenched and for guns to become normal to them instead of an intriguing taboo. And what a better way for them to learn than from safe, experienced and responsible adults in gun training?
Bravo Colorado, where many would be shocked and wonder how the same state that experienced Columbine would be introducing guns even earlier in their schools, I commend them for it. This is preventative and could actually save lives.
There have been unfortunate instances D&C reported on where children and teens played with their parent’s guns or played with guns at a friends house, and because of a lack of gun safety and knowledge tragedy was the outcome.
If you have more educated children on the do’s and don’ts of gun safety, whether their parents are for or against the Second Amendment, you have more preventative action! If more schools adopted this, I really do think we could cut down on the amount of accidents that happen from curious and uneducated children on gun safety.
Let us know what you think in the comments!
