I was doing some wondering/research (some of the college ed. paying off) about how many children don't know safety of firearms. More so the danger and proper handling of firearms. using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control injury/mortality report I found that in 2005 age group 0 to 19 that were 173 unintentional firearm deaths in the U.S.. Now the question is could live have been saved? I personal believe the responsibility falls into the hands of the parents. I look forward to your comments.

I think teaching it in schools in a great idea: too often parents don't. I was lucky to have a father who spent months teaching me the ins and outs: safety, stripping and shooting.

I think that everyone should know the basics. If you teach it, the mystery vanishes and they learn to respect the firearm. It breaks my heart to hear of a child accidentally shooting a friend or sibling because they don't know what they're doing.

Plus, shooting is a life long sport that can bring memories that will last forever. I have that for golf and shooting. My fondest memories will be out in the field with my father working the dogs and bagging some birds.

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SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM

You guys, though having pactical thinking, are out of touch with the PC climate that has had a grip on our education system for a long time now.

The only thing taught about guns is how evil, dangerous and unnecessary their mere existence is.

It is slowly having its effect with growing numbers of youngsters accepting it.

The media highlites of the altogether spectacular incidents of mass killings only help to underline this.

There are kids today being suspended for drawing pctures of guns.

You can be sure that teaching safety is nowhere on any educator's agenda these days.

interesting point you have there...

we dont really have gun education here.. because we have never feeled the need for it.
but your point is valid. as the media includes the element.. why shouldnt we teatch
it to our children beforehand?

now.. here things are a bit different.. we do have generally gunfree enviroment in the civilian life.
that has been the case for decades... there are few crimes which actually include a firearm..
we have had a healthy gun culture untill things went bad about 2~ years ago...

at the moment we recognice thease incedents as being the undercoming of our
school budgent for mentalhealth professionals...
another thing is the evolution of technology to communicate.

our schooling system (once rated the most advanced on the globe)
didn't have the means to keep up with the technology...

the media surrounding us has chanced.. the means to communicate have chanced.
but the illnesses are still in most cases the same old..

the out burst of thease ilnesses are just different because of the chanced surroundings..
(mania torwards media)

still... we dont have "armed surroundings" so we don't really need the arms training at all
(well our army is mandatory.. so it does it quite a lot better at proper age)

but for the states in US which are already filled with arms.. i say go for it.. and dont let
anyone else teatch your kid how to handle a gun.. do it your self.

what comes to the PC.. information is and always has been the gratest weapon of all.
its neccisery to control it as you control your firearms.

to a point.

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few days late. But thought i would add, some schools do teach it, i grew up in the country, so it might be different, but where i went to school they offered free saftey courses and training courses for hunting, not just guns, but also bows. Now it wasnt mandatory(you cant force people to learn about guns) but it was optional and highly recommended, i think probably 95% of our school had taken it before the 6th grade.

Too bad I was a part of the "everybody is a winner" when I went to school.

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"Never believe what you hear and believe half of what you see for the hand is much quicker than the eye" -Evans

Where there is a "gun culture" in a nation such as it is in the US, then I think its a must have in the school ciriculum... I would fully agree that this should be implemented in all states in the US....

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"Barrel High, Powder Dry!"

"Illic est haud effrego ex Veneratio"

what this country needs is a pro-active gun control program and not a gun safety program in schools.
we can not afford more armed gangbangers killing people and giving the controlled media
more fuel.
as we are at it: the 2nd needs to be striken,
gun-ownership should be a privilage and not a 'right'.
a central gun registry such as Canada has with all gun licenses issued by the Min. of justice
after a suc. completen of a standarized
nation-wide mandatory gun handling and safety training by
federal police.
anyone with a record should be banned from owning fire arms.

Bearing Arms is a right granted by this Country's most important document.

The Gangbangers use illegal weapons as do most criminals: there's nothing you can do about that. If you enact gun control, it will only limit the rights of law abiding citizens. The FBI reports that over 3 million lives are saved each year by law abiding gun owners who use them to deter crime by pulling the firearm or forcefully stopping a criminal.

And I don't know what you're talking about with mandatory classes. To carry a firearm, you need 24 hours of classes and 8 hours of Range time to get a CCW.

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SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM

Hey CanRGR, true gun control is proper sight alignment, breathing, trigger squeze and importantly two hands. lol.

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"Never believe what you hear and believe half of what you see for the hand is much quicker than the eye" -Evans