All the wrong lessons

[SecularMotion]

It's been four months since the shooting death of Gary Cota, a 13-year-old living in Fort Edward, was front-page news in the Times Union. The June 7 article carried the ironic headline, "From death, lesson for life."

If only there were any such lesson. None has been reported or even hinted at.

All we learned that day — when I wrote about the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case in Florida ("Stand your ground needs to go&quot — was that the deceased boy had been playing in his home with another unidentified 13-year-old and that the "Cota household'[s]" shotgun had discharged one round, killing Gary.

It was later reported in the Glens Falls Post-Star that the gun belonged to Gary, a gift to the deceased boy from "an adult relative." Louis Cota, the boy's father, was quoted in the Times Union saying, "this is a lesson for everybody to learn from. This is an unfortunate accident. We don't blame the kid. We don't blame anybody."

http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/All-the-wrong-lessons-3925535.php#ixzz290kHMLCR

[slackmaster]

1. Basic gun safety should be taught in public schools

Everyone who graduates from high school deserves to be taught the importance of securing weapons when they are not in use.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

2. Isn't that what the NRA does?

How's that going?

Kids don't have a constitutional right to own guns.

How about requiring all gun owning adults to do that in all states? Oh, right, they do (not).

Where were the supervising adults? In or going to jail?

[Glaug-Eldare]

4. In 2001, the MD GA passed two bills mandating gun safety education,

but Gov. Glendening vetoed them specifically to avoid allowing NRA curricula in classrooms. He also expressed fear that children exposed to gun safety education might take interest in shooting sports, which he wished to use the power of the state to discourage. The Glendening administration did not (and I believe the O'Malley administration does not) believe that children should be taught how to safely deal with firearms. To be clear, this isn't about operation and marksmanship -- it's about not handling firearms without permission, and knowing the safety rules when permission is given. Children in gun-free families are deliberately being kept ignorant about the hazards of unsafe gun handling. I suspect this is because dead children are more valuable to the gun control camp than living ones.

House Bill 791 passed the House and Senate by 75% each
Senate Bill 124 passed the house by 77% and the Senate by 78%

[fightthegoodfightnow]

7. Indoctrinating Youths That Guns Are Safe is a False Premise

...and puts guns in the wrong hands.

[PavePusher]

10. Yes it is, yes it does, and that's not what anyone here has advocated.

[Glaug-Eldare]

11. Actually, it's a 100% correct premise.

The only time that a gun is not safe is when it is being handled improperly. Gun safety education means teaching children about the potential hazards, and how to avoid them. More than anything, I want to focus on protecting children who are not shooters, and who are not taught about guns at home. I want the curious child who finds a gun in an unlocked drawer to be aware of the danger it can present. At the very least, children should know what to do if they find a gun, or if a friend shows them a found gun. Too many kids don't recognize unsafe situations, don't know how to deal with them, and end up dead because of it.

Maybe you'll say, "then just enforce safe storage laws!" That's part of the solution, but sometimes the law is broken or ignored. There are laws against kidnapping children -- that doesn't mean we no longer need to teach children not to go along with strangers. Our kids deserve to know that danger is out there, and what they can do to avoid it. There's no reason so many parents should be burying their children.

Simply put, the lesson is that "Guns are safe if you do this!"

[fightthegoodfightnow]

12. THEN...Require that training for ALL Adults First Prior to Getting a Gun

Until you do that, it's double speak and indoctrination to do so with youth.

[Glaug-Eldare]

13. Won't the educated children grow to be educated adults?

I don't see the utility of going through the whole thing twice, considering the vastly different educational needs of children and adults. For what it's worth, Maryland does require purchasers of "Regulated Firearms" (handguns and certain rifles) to watch a safety and training presentation.

[PavePusher]

5. When invited to by the school, yes.

They can't just walk in of their own accord, you know.

Most schools run away from firearms safety education like it was a $2 hooker with cold-sores.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

8. Thank....

...Goodness.

[PavePusher]

9. Yeah, you're right...

we should all praise ignorance.

[slackmaster]

6. No. I'm talking about middle school or high school.

How about requiring all gun owning adults to do that in all states?

That's up to the states. Some do.

[ileus]

3. My 8 and 10 Yo's know how to handle all three basic types of firearms.

Both know how to check if a bolt, semi-auto, shotgun pump and semi autos are loaded. The both know revolvers and many different types of auto's...

You want your child safe around firearms, teach them proper gun safety and handling. The life you save could be your own.

[Jenoch]

14. Frequently, these gun accidents

are caused by friends of the children of gun owners. They enter a home with a gun and since they have never learned anything about guns they are likely to mishandle them.