Teaching Gun Safety
Does Gun Education in School Really Save Lives?
By Claire Moore
Aug. 20 �It may be the only issue people on both sides of
the gun control debate can agree on.
Proponents and foes of gun control say they want gun
education and avoidance programs taught in public schools
from kindergarten through middle school or even high school.
And activists aren�t the only ones supporting gun
education. Spurred by the series of school shootings in
recent years, school districts and state legislatures
across the country are pushing for gun education in the
classroom.
Three weeks after a first grade boy brought to school
a gun he found at home and shot his 6-year-old classmate
in Mount Morris Township, Mich., the state Legislature
passed a gun safety education provision with strong
bipartisan support.
But the political compromise tends to end there. It�s
much harder to agree on just what kids should be taught
about gun safety or whether gun education programs have
any affect at all, said Heidi Cifelli, manager of the
National Rifle Association�s Eddie Eagle Gun Safe Program,
which is now taught in Michigan elementary schools.
While fewer kids are bringing guns to school,
according to the Centers for Disease Control, the rate of
firearms death among children younger than 13 remains 25
times that of the other top 25 industrialized nations
combined.
�Gun education is not mandatory in any state as far
as we know, but of course we think it should be,� said
Cifelli, who repeated the NRA�s slogan that guns don�t
kill people, people kill people. �Gun education is the
best way to save young lives.�
The NRA Approach
Cifelli says the NRA would like more schools to use its
program, called �Eddie Eagle,� which teaches kids in
grades K-6 to �Stop. Don�t Touch. Leave the Area. Tell
an Adult,� when they see a gun. The program uses the
character of an American Bald Eagle, sometimes in the
form of a live mascot, throughout its lessons for children.
In the past two years Wisconsin, Oregon, and New
York state Legislatures have tried to pass bills that
would have made Eddie Eagle a mandatory part of the
school curriculum. None of the bills were successful.
So far the week-long Eddie Eagle program, which
includes coloring books, a video and often a visit
from a local police officer dressed in an Eddie Eagle
costume, has reached 13 million kids since 1988, said
Cifelli. Eddie Eagle is usually taught as a special
program by local police departments. But some schools
have incorporated it into their regular health curriculums
along with drug and alcohol education and sex education �
depending on the grade level.
Opponents Have Different Approach
�Eddie Eagle is often referred to as Joe Camel dressed up
in feathers. The Eddie Eagle program tends to glamorize
guns by making them seem like something you can only do
when you�re an adult � just like drinking and smoking.
You know what happens when you tell a child something
like that. They want to do it more than ever,� said Nancy
Hwa, a spokesperson for the Center to Prevent Handgun
Violence, which offers its own gun safety education
program called STAR.
STAR, or Straight Talk About Risks, is a K-12 program
designed to be incorporated into school curriculums. It
includes video and role playing activities to teach kids
about anger management, conflict resolution and the
possible consequences of handling a gun or using a firearm
to resolve a conflict. Since its creation in 1992 it has
been used in 80 school districts, which means more than
1000 schools nationwide.
The NRA in turn has criticized STAR by saying it
teaches children that guns and gun owners are bad, �which
isn�t really true or fair,� said Cifelli.
But critics of Eddie Eagle, STAR and the handful of
lesser-known gun education programs for kids in school say
there is no evidence that gun education alone reduces gun
violence or gun-related injuries.
Critics Doubt Any Program Will Work
�The fact is that neither of these educational programs
have ever been thoroughly evaluated and we don�t really
know if they work or not. But there is a need to do
something and an education program is a more direct and
less controversial way to address handgun violence and
injuries,� said Dr. Stephen Hargarten, chairman of
Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Despite the criticism, officials in Carroll County
school district, Md., will be among the most recent to
experiment with a gun-avoidance program in grades K-12,
starting this fall. Their program is based on both Eddie
Eagle and STAR, but has been �tailored to fit our
community,� said William Piercy, assistant supervisor of
staff development and health for the district.
If the pilot program goes well, the school board
plans to approve an official gun education program in
the health curriculum by fall 2001.
�We think the best way to prevent accidents with
guns and gun violence is through education. We live in
a community where people do keep guns in their homes,
people still hunt and there is still a farming community,�
Piercy said.
�Teachers and parents can�t be with a child all the
time so we need to educate them about the dangers of
guns,� he added. �We teach kids about bicycle safety and
about alcohol and drugs and sex education so they will
have a foundation they can take with them in all
situations.�
A few teachers were concerned the program may call
for unloaded guns in the school for demonstrations. But
there will be no guns in the classroom, Piercy said.
�It�s amazing how people in the community on both
sides of the political spectrum have supported this. Most
people agree it�s better to tackle the issue up front
than try to avoid it,� Piercy said.
However, Hargarten and his colleague at the Medical
College of Wisconsin, Richard Withers, co-director of the
college�s Firearms Injury Center say they worry schools
and parents will come to rely on education too much.
�I think education programs aren�t harmful, but
whether it�s good for us to rely on them entirely is
another question,� said Withers, who supports federal and
private research dollars going to develop safe gun
technology rather evaluation of gun education programs.
Daniel Webster, a health policy researcher at The
Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health said
most child psychologists and pediatricians agree kids
will be kids to a large extent. Often children don�t
hear what they don�t want to hear.
�Guns still appear glamorous to them in films and
television and among their peers,� he said. �Education
alone won�t do it and it can sometimes make parents and
teachers somewhat complacent,� he said.
The Department of Education agrees that relying
solely on education is not the answer.
�In schools the only thing that works to stop gun
violence is some education combined with intervention,
counselors in every school, parents getting involved,
teachers being trained and involved and so on. Education
is no silver bullet. It�s not really proven to work at
all,� said Melinda Maliko, a department spokesperson.
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