Guns in school

Sounds like a good idea to me. Children who know how to use guns safely rarely accidentally shoot themselves or others, nor do they buy into the Hollywood stereotypes that guns are cool and you can shoot all day long without hurting anyone.

I grew up in a region where most people hunted and children received their first firearms (often a .410 shotgun or a .22 bolt-action rifle) when they were between 6-8 years of age. I didn't have any friends who accidentally shot themselves or others, I didn't have any friends who invited me to sneak into their father's gun cabinet and play with guns or anything of the sort. And as far as suicides go, the only people I knew who committed suicide by firearm were two women in their mid-30s and a man in his late 50s. The teenagers I knew who committed suicide jumped off tall bridges or took intentional overdoses of drugs.

Children who take a gun safety course learn very quickly how dangerous guns can be if they are misused. Furthermore, I've noticed that children gain self-esteem from learning about guns and taking responsibility for using them safely.

It's foolish to necessarily link a criminal lifestyle to a gun safety course. The two have nothing to do with each other... except the person who has taken the gun safety course is in a better position to protect themselves and other innocent people from criminals.

And those who take down the shooter(s) will be able to do it before more people get killed.

FYI, I live in Fort Worth, Texas and know a number of people who were at Wedgwood Baptist Church on September 15, 1999 when a gunman entered the building and started gunning down teenagers and staff members and adult sponsors. I reported on the event as part of the local media and interviewed people who were directly involved (and one of the widows). I attended the funeral of the staff member who was murdered. The gunman walked around for several minutes shooting people before another armed person arrived (an off-duty police officer who lived across the street), at which point the gunman killed himself. According to the police chief, if one person in that building had legally carried a concealed weapon, they could have ended it shortly after it began and saved a number of lives and lessened the heartache of the friends and families of the 14 victims.

 

==Your assumptions are totally wrong. In our area, many kids know how to use guns because their fathers teach them in the fields and in the woods. Why? So they can go hunting. None of these kids are dangerous; in fact I would argue that they know more about gun safety than most adults. Being taught how to properly use a gun does not lead to a life of crime nor does it put other people in danger.

My brothers and cousins were shooting guns before they were driving cars.

Guns are morally neutral objects. The problem occurs when guns get into the hands of evil people or ignorant people.

 

I hope the bill is successful here in WV. Many of our kids, ages 8 and 10 and even younger, are already being taught how to hunt by their fathers. If you'll notice, they want hunting safety classes, not GUN classes. I'm sure the classes would involve gun handling, but the way lawsuits are so rampant here, I doubt they'll let the kids shoot real bullets as part of the program.

 

Let's see if proponents of sex education, who insist it doesn't encourage kids to have sex, have any objections to this on grounds it may encourage them to shoot firearms.

 

Neither having sex, nor shooting a firearm, is bad in its proper context.

 

:laugh: That answer is a good example of the best in diplomacy.

 

True, and if one doesn't get the info from taking both classes confused; well, except maybe regarding something having to do with the word "loaded."

 

:laugh: Confusion like that could cause quite a few embarrasing situations!

 

Baptist Believer:

BB, this is one of the few time I agree with you, but I'm with you 100% on this one!

This as well as Columbine, and the cafeteria (in Texas also IIRC) where a girl who had a carry permit & whose parents were killed same way. Her gun was in the car because the cafeteria had a "NO FIREARMS PERMITTED" policy.

Also the church ( don't remember the name, but seems like maybe 8months+/- ago) where the security guard nailed the crazy perp.

If we followed the logic of The Scribe, we would disband driver training also; after all why teach the lil demons how to aim a 2 ton (+/-) mass of metal that kills several thousand each year.

Common sense is getting rarer every day!!

 

Common sense is getting rarer every day!![/QUOTE]

Amen, just want peace. :thumbs:

 

The church to which you are referring is the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. This actually occurred less than two months ago on Dec. 9, 2007.

Ed

 

Hey, don't be too tough on me; time is mostly irrevalent when you're retired.

Everytime I recall some event, I normally guess it at about 1/2 to 1/3 of the actual elapsed time (according to my wife anyway), so I was just giving myself a cushion here!!:smilewinkgrin::sleeping_2::godisgood:

 

Spur of the moment reply is, I would say that I favor the present system, BUT with much stricter controls & limitations on teen drivers.

 

AND put a limit on the upper age bracket at which point yearly testing would be done. We need to recognize that there are a lot of elderly folks that shouldn't be behind the wheel. I'm 43, and I'd rather be on the road with a load of teenagers that a bunch of 70+ seniors. Recognizing the weaknesses of youth and inexperience is important; we shouldn't turn a blind eye in the other direction.

I drive about 1200 miles a week, mostly through the Bmore/DC corridor~might have some experience

 

But then mom and dad would have to run their own errands longer.:laugh:

 

I drive about 3,200 to 3,700 miles a week from Fl. to N.C. or Va. and back, up one day back the next. Yes the older drivers can be a problem and the teenagers can be a problem. But the problem I see each day is the mid 20's to the mid 40's driving in left lane most of the time, turn on your signal to move over to pass and they speed up to block you in, lights not aimed correctly and blind me at night, talking on cell phones, doing paper work while driving, reading a book or papers while driving, speeding and not wanting to share the road. Yes most of my driving is 4 lane roads with about 30 percent 2 lane roads and less than 10 percent city driving.

I was 15 years old when I started driving and my older two were 16 when they started and up until now as far as I know there has only been two tickets between wife self and children, a lot is attitude. As I told my children any tickets or accidents you lose you right to drive till you are out on your own, it worked. By the way both tickets were on me, they were over weight tickets years ago. The truck was over weight then and I'm over weight today.

One size does not fit all.