Do you guys think we should bring back firearm safety classes in middle and high schools? Why or why not?

26 comments

1. I’d say it’s worth checking out again. I’ve seen videos of deaths due to lack of knowledge on how they work or what they do.

2. No.

3. I think the answer is… it depends.

   Guns aren’t “part of our culture”, as a blanket statement.

   There are communities where it’s a part of the culture. There are communities where it’s completely divorced from the culture. America isn’t a monolith when it comes to these things.

   I grew up in an area that had a decent amount of hunters, so I think a firearms safety course is a good idea for those students.

   I now live in an area now where firearms are extremely rare. Many of my friends and colleagues have never seen one that wasn’t in a museum or holstered to a police officer. So there’s other things their kids should be learning in school that’s more relevant.

   Heck, the only time I saw one in the last decade was purposely going to a range/training class for a British friend that wanted to cross it off his America bucket list.

4. No. Just watch some Hickok45 videos on YouTube,

5. > part of our culture

   *Your* culture. I completely acknowledge that firearms are part of the culture in some parts of America, and that’s totally fine. But it’s just not the case everywhere in the country, and I think it’s equally important to acknowledge that.

   So if you want to have firearms safety courses in parts of the country where it’s a more relevant part of life, fine, do that. But *nationwide*, absolutely not.

6. No

7. Absolutely yes, where that’s practical. It’s not practical everywhere in the US.

8. Not at all. I don’t think we should bring guns into the classroom at all and the only way to properly teach such things, is with guns in hand. Though I can’t even imagine what class this would be taught in and I rather not take resources away from other more classes.

9. I think it should be up to localities. It would be smart in a lot of areas to have.

10. Yes. If children were not 1) left if curious ignorance about guns and 2) grew up to know how to properly handle/store guns, so many accidents would be avoided.

11. As an elective, maybe. As part of the standard curriculum, no. Guns aren’t “part of the culture” as a general statement.

12. I think they could offer it as an elective similar to how we should also definitely be offering drivers ed as one.

    I am in no way pro-firearm but if others are we at the very least should teach them how to use them properly. (I’ve got my firearms safety certificate from when I was young and I’m glad my dad made me go through the program)

    On a slightly different note I also think a firearms safety certificate should be a hard stop requirement for anyone looking to purchase or even weild a gun.

13. “Bring back”??? When was this ever a thing?? I went to public schools in central Mississippi and never was this part of our curriculum.

14. It’s regional now, and that makes the most sense. I had a hunter education class in middle school (one or two weeks of one hour sessions) that covered gun safety and hunting regulations, but that made sense in a rural community with a lot of hunting and people taking their dogs for walks in wooded areas. It wouldn’t make as much sense in every community.

15. There’s no need for that here in New Jersey.

    More STEM, vocational, and basic life lesson type classes please.

16. Schools cant even teach how to read at a basic fucking level.
    Can you imagine them trying to not be a cluster fuck at teaching basic gun safety?

17. Absolutely not

18. I’d be all for a practical skills class that might have gun safety along with other things like lawn mowing, fixing leaky faucets, basic first aid.

    Some of the things to include would probably be regional.

    I think every adult in the country should know the difference between an orbeez launcher and a real gun, and have a decent understanding of how to safely unload a gun, but that doesn’t take all that long to teach.

19. > I’m just suggesting like a semester long course

    If you’re asserting that a semester long course is important for gun safety, that’s an argument for at least a week or two course for a gun license. That doesn’t seem the slightest bit plausible. If gun safety is that complicated that it takes several months to learn it, the problem is worse than even the most ardent gun control advocates believe.

    I’d sooner see a required course in first aid, including CPR. Required swimming and water safety. Bicycle safety and repair. Enough of an understanding about concussions so at least some students will think twice before getting into football. Enough math so that students can calculate how reaction time affected by alcohol increases the necessary following distance. Enough probability and statistics so they can compare the risk of a vaccine to the risk of the disease the vaccine is for.

20. I think that having a driving course or a class on taxes would be much more useful.

21. I think a basic safety class should be apart of your basic education. It could be done as a one week class intertwined with PE that just teaches the basics. No booger hook on the bang switch unless you’re ready to send the hate, don’t try to suck start a gun, don’t look down the barrel for any reason, always treat a firearm as if it were loaded with the safety off.

    I would also prefer to swap part of high school education with practical skills. How to open a bank account, basic budgeting, how to file your taxes, information on unions active today, jobs that don’t require a college degree, basic explanation of credit and how to build it, what goes into getting a loan. A safety course on firearms is just one thing I’d include. Stop making kids stupid and in need of assistance through life.

22. I don’t believe that firearms safty classes have ever been a part of school curriculum beyond the local (district) level.

    I believe that basic firearms safty should be taught in school, as a safty measure.

23. I don’t support purely abstinence-based education, so I’d prefer kids learn about things even if they aren’t going to use them. Whether you’re teaching a young male how to use his rifle or his gun.

24. As an elective, absolutely. Make it so at the end the kids get a Hunter Safety certificate and/or state gun certificate if the state requires some bullshit before ownership.

25. No, and I frankly wouldn’t trust a public school district to monitor the ammo of the firearms to be leadless. It is not a wise idea to introduce yet more lead dust into an environment with children present.

26. Fuck no. The very fact that you even ask that goes to the terrifying state of our nation.