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Will pupils, guns mix?
Teach students firearm safety, lawmaker urges
By Jennifer Toomer-Cook
Deseret News staff writer
Last year, lawmakers told schools to make room for patriotic lessons. This year, it could
be gun education.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Orem, would require school districts to offer
firearm-safety instruction to elementary schoolchildren and high school seniors.
Lessons would differ, but teens would have to learn about things such as the "federal
constitutional right of citizens to possess and use firearms" and could handle guns off campus.
"There is so much violence in society," Thompson said Friday. "We are educating our
children, but we're not educating them on . . . a major element of our society."
But the head of the state's largest teachers union believes those lessons are best left
to the family and not overloaded educators.
"You want kids to score high on tests, and then say, 'By the way, go do gun safety,' "
Utah Education Association President Phyllis Sorensen said in reference to the state's focus on
school accountability and standardized tests. "I don't think there will be much support for
this in the education community."
School board and PTA members said they would discuss the bill in meetings next week
before taking a stand.
Thompson wants to help children develop skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to safely
handle firearms, prevent injuries and learn risks and benefits of firearm ownership and use.
Utah law already lets school districts choose whether to offer firearm-safety classes.
And firearm courses apparently have been offered in schools. West High School, for instance,
once had a basement shooting range, Salt Lake School Board member Karen Derrick said. The space
was later used for storage.
Though gun-safety instruction is now optional, HB264 would require it for kindergartners
through sixth-graders and high school seniors.
Teachers, volunteers or police officers could teach the classes. They would have to
remain unbiased about firearms in doing so.
Parents don't have to let their children participate.
Elementary students would learn that when discovering a firearm they should leave the
area, not touch it and tell an adult. Most of that is in the current law.
Twelfth-graders would learn about safety measures and dangers associated with firearm
use, plus information about gun violence. Those who haven't been convicted of a violent crime
could participate in a program involving gun handling. But the activity would require parental
permission and have to be off campus and supervised by police, a hunter-safety educator or a
National Rifle Association trainer.
Thompson, who said he doesn't own guns and is uncomfortable around them, hopes handling
and firing guns will help the teens understand and respect the weapon's power.
Thompson accepted a small donation from the National Rifle Association's political
victory fund and a chapter of the Utah Education Association during his 2000 campaign.
But Thompson said donations have nothing to do with the bill.
Will pupils, guns mix?
Teach students firearm safety, lawmaker urges
By Jennifer Toomer-Cook
Deseret News staff writer
Last year, lawmakers told schools to make room for patriotic lessons. This year, it could
be gun education.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Orem, would require school districts to offer
firearm-safety instruction to elementary schoolchildren and high school seniors.
Lessons would differ, but teens would have to learn about things such as the "federal
constitutional right of citizens to possess and use firearms" and could handle guns off campus.
"There is so much violence in society," Thompson said Friday. "We are educating our
children, but we're not educating them on . . . a major element of our society."
But the head of the state's largest teachers union believes those lessons are best left
to the family and not overloaded educators.
"You want kids to score high on tests, and then say, 'By the way, go do gun safety,' "
Utah Education Association President Phyllis Sorensen said in reference to the state's focus on
school accountability and standardized tests. "I don't think there will be much support for
this in the education community."
School board and PTA members said they would discuss the bill in meetings next week
before taking a stand.
Thompson wants to help children develop skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to safely
handle firearms, prevent injuries and learn risks and benefits of firearm ownership and use.
Utah law already lets school districts choose whether to offer firearm-safety classes.
And firearm courses apparently have been offered in schools. West High School, for instance,
once had a basement shooting range, Salt Lake School Board member Karen Derrick said. The space
was later used for storage.
Though gun-safety instruction is now optional, HB264 would require it for kindergartners
through sixth-graders and high school seniors.
Teachers, volunteers or police officers could teach the classes. They would have to
remain unbiased about firearms in doing so.
Parents don't have to let their children participate.
Elementary students would learn that when discovering a firearm they should leave the
area, not touch it and tell an adult. Most of that is in the current law.
Twelfth-graders would learn about safety measures and dangers associated with firearm
use, plus information about gun violence. Those who haven't been convicted of a violent crime
could participate in a program involving gun handling. But the activity would require parental
permission and have to be off campus and supervised by police, a hunter-safety educator or a
National Rifle Association trainer.
Thompson, who said he doesn't own guns and is uncomfortable around them, hopes handling
and firing guns will help the teens understand and respect the weapon's power.
Thompson accepted a small donation from the National Rifle Association's political
victory fund and a chapter of the Utah Education Association during his 2000 campaign.
But Thompson said donations have nothing to do with the bill.
