Utah state Senator Todd Weiler has proposed a program in Utah schools that provides eight-grade students with the principles of firearms safety and violence prevention.
“I think it’s always helpful for children and adults to think through what you would do in a situation before you encounter it,” Sen. Weilertold The Salt Lake Tribune. “Unfortunately, it is probably a necessary reality in the society we live in these days.”
The elective class would focus on what students should do if they come across a firearm, and would require a parent or guardian’s signature for participation.
“Even if someone doesn’t have a gun in their home,” Mr. Weiler told The Tribune, “odds are very likely that a neighbor or a friend’s parents do.”
Another key component of the class will be teaching students how to respond if they come face to face with a gunman or are involved in an active shooter situation.
“If we’re going to talk about guns while we’re in school, I think it would be silly not to be able to mention something about an active-shooter situation,” Weiler said.
On Monday, the White House released a statement saying: “Hundreds of law enforcement officers have been shot to death protecting their communities. And too many children are killed or injured by firearms every year, often by accident.”
It seems like Utah is going to address that problem by educating rather than restricting liberty. Maybe they can get President Obama into a class so he won’t be so afraid of inanimate objects.
h/t: Standard.net
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