Program Brings Firearms to School to Teach Gun Safety, Marksmanship

18 Mar, 2016 by Greg Campbell

Print this article Font size -16+

People cannot “catch” gun violence- it’s not like a disease. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people and too-often, ignorant people kill people. Whether liberal or conservative, all want to see fewer accidental deaths and a long-overdue idea might just save lives: bringing guns into schools to teach hands-on gun safety. Some may shudder at the idea, but it is a brilliant one that might save many lives if instituted on a large level.

A program overseen by Project Appleseed is bringing a plethora of firearms to a Colorado middle school to teach students about gun safety.

The three-day program is being held at Carver Middle School in Colorado City, Colorado.

According to Fox 31, Project Appleseed coordinator Jim Hathit said, “We’re teaching them about the firearms so they are familiar with them.”

At one point in the program, various firearms were spread out on a table in front of students. The firearms included revolvers, pistols, and rifles, among other things, and the students were allowed to handle the weapons, to feel what it is like to hold and respect a gun.

Hathit observed, “I think it’s better for them to have respect for it, know how to handle it, not that they should, but that they are aware about the firearms. It’s not an, ‘Oh, what’s this? What can we do with this?’”

Tristan Baker, a seventh-grader, said, “I think it’s pretty cool. It’s not something you know you don’t get to see every day. It’s something that you get to come in and say, ‘Wow, look at all these nice, awesome, firearms.’”

Courtney Proctor, an eighth-grader, said the program complimented the shooting she did with her parents when younger.

The last day of the program allows the students to spend a full day at an outdoor range shooting the guns they handled and studied during the first two days.

In school, we learned about drugs. We learned about pregnancy and STDs. We learned how to prevent problems but yet, we, as a nation, fetishize firearms and purposely keep kids in the dark concerning the safe handling of such weapons.

That obsolete notion needs to go and this is a terrific step in that direction.