VOTE: YES – Died In Committee
Committee assigned to bill: https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Committees/SED/Overview
This bill allows schools to teach first-graders about gun safety, and allows parents to opt their kids out.
Personal Choice and Responsibility
First-graders are at the age where they don’t have enough life experience to draw from to make safe decisions. From about 4 to 8 is when kids are most vulnerable and don’t have the life experience or the maturity to make good decisions if ever put in the position where there’s an unsecured firearm.
Limited Government
The bill requires the 30-minute class would have to be taught by a teacher, administrator, law enforcement officer or first responder. It doesn’t involve any real guns or ammo, but teaches kids how to respond if they encounter the real thing. The class would also address the difference between video-game violence and real-life violence. The goal is to educate kids, not politicize the issue around guns or gun ownership.
This is what I taught my children Years ago. This is what gun safety is, teaching kids what to do if they see a gun. This is what the Eddie Eagle program does. The NRA has been doing this for decades.
Now it is my hope that once they get a little older, say 10 or so that they are taught to shoot and what safe gun handling is.