Arkansas Requiring Schools To Teach Firearms Safety
A while back, we speculated that there was something magical in the drinking water of Arkansas, as the state gets more and more based. Guess what, it’s happened again! Now, the state is requiring mandatory firearms safety classes for public schools starting this year.
Based Arkansas @ TFB:
Safety first
No doubt hoplophobes will decry this move as an attempt to militarize the state’s young people, but a careful reading of the HB1117 mentions no such silliness. Instead, it is quite openly an attempt to educate young people about firearms in order to prevent accidents. Section 1 opens with these words:
(a) It is the intent of the General Assembly to:
(1) Protect Arkansas children from the accidental discharge of firearms by providing age-appropriate firearm education and instruction; and
(2) Empower the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission to work with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to create and approve age-appropriate firearm safety courses.
Later it says that they want to teach kids what to do—or what not to do—if they encounter an unsecured firearm. The training may include off-site live-fire training, and will include instruction on safe handling and safe storage of firearms. The safety training program will be developed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the state’s Department of Education. The live-fire training will only be done with parental permission.
You can see the full bill here.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. R. Scott Richardson from the town of Bentonville. According to Richardson, the idea for the bill came when he talked to his neighbors and discussed the possibility of children encountering firearms that were not locked up, perhaps when visiting a neighbor’s house as they played with other kids.
The intent is for children to know how to act around firearms in such scenarios, avoiding tragedies from incorrect handling of guns.
The training programs are supposed to start in the 2025-2026 school year, and will be taught in open enrollment public charter schools and public schools.
