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Missouri Bill Would Require All First Graders To TakeNRA-Sponsored Gun Class

By Annie-Rose Strasser on Jan 30, 2013 at 11:50 am
Students in Missouri have no sexual education requirement, so there’s agood chance they don’t know how to properly protect themselves from STIs orunintended pregnancy. Soon, though, they may be able to protect themselves fromguns.Missouri state Senate is considering a bill that would require allfirst graders in the state to take a gun safety training course. Using a grantprovided by the National Rifle Association, it would put a “National RifleAssociation’s Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program” instructor in every first gradeclassroom.The irony that there’s no requirement for students to learn abouttheir bodies — but that there is one for deadly weapons — seems lost on thelegislators proposing the measure, one of whom lamented, “I hate mandates as much as anyone,but some concerns and conditions rise to the level of needing amandate”:pushing for its passage:Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, told the Senate General Laws CommitteeTuesday that his bill was an effort toteach young children what to do if they come across an unsecured weapon.[...]“I hate mandates as much as anyone, but someconcerns and conditions rise to the level of needing a mandate,” Brown said.Senators watched a brief segment of the training video during thehearing. The segment featured a cartoon eagle telling children to step awayfrom an unsecured gun and immediately report it to an adult.The measure would also require teachers to spend eight hours in atraining course for how to respond to an armed assailant in the school. But theNRA will not foot the bill for the cost of substitute teachers on those days —despite the organizations stated focus onprotecting the classroom.And if the legislature is truly worried about protecting theirstudents, sex education is a good place to start. Missouri’s young peoplesuffer some of the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the country. Many of the schoolsrun abstinence-only education, which is proven ineffective and likely to lead to more STIs andunintended pregnancies. It may not be as terrifying to a parent to imaginetheir child pregnant instead of shot, but it’s a much more likely possibility:In Missouri, 51 out of every 1,000 women have an unintended pregnancy,while there are 12.3 gun deaths per 100,00 people.