Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Utah Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City, is proposing a bill mandating firearm safety instruction in Utah schools.
- The bill requires annual safety lessons for students from kindergarten through high school.
- Parents could opt-out, but debate continues over implementation and age appropriateness.
SALT LAKE CITY — Should Utah's public schools be required to provide firearm safety instruction to all students?
Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City, thinks so and has proposed a bill, HB104, that would require the Utah State Board of Education to establish standards for firearm safety instruction in public schools.
Utah code already says firearm safety can be taught in schools, but it's optional. Shipp's bill would make it a requirement.
"As we all know, even just this year, (and) in recent years, there continues to be accidental shootings of children. I learned from a very young age how to handle, safely, a firearm. That's certainly not the case anymore. There's a lot of our kids in schools around the state that do not have this opportunity to learn how to safely handle firearms and be around them," Shipp said during a House Education Committee meeting Thursday.
Two Utah children died by accidental gunfire during a two-week span last summer.
Through the bill, all public schools would be required to provide firearm safety instruction to every student once per school year, from kindergarten through sixth grade, and for every student at least once while the student is attending middle school and at least once while the student is attending high school.
"It could be 15, 20 minutes. It's something that could be attached with some other program that's going on in the school, maybe even a PE (physical education) class or something, and it would be developmentally appropriate based on their ages," Shipp said.
During the 2021 legislative session, Shipp tried to pass similar legislation. The bill, HB258, passed a House committee and made it to the House floor, but there was pushback and the Senate committee eventually voted it down.
As for who would actually be teaching firearm safety at the schools, that isn't as clear, with Rep. Joseph Elison, R-Washington, raising the question to Shipp.
Shipp said he could see school resource officers and different law enforcement agencies being involved, for example.
And while some lawmakers felt that although firearm safety is important, they aren't sure if it's the responsibility of schools to teach students about it, especially with "so many hours in a day" that are usually devoted to more standard instruction.
"There's nothing in this bill that is not important, but I also am the parent and I have to teach my kids those things, too. And I can't expect the school to teach them everything," said Rep. Karen Peterson, R-Clinton. "I understand that some parents might not know about guns, but there's lots of things I don't, kind of, know about as a parent, but I still have that responsibility."
Under the bill, parents would have the option to opt out of firearm instruction for their students, though Shipp said that if it were up to him, he would make it mandatory.
"There's accidental shootings regularly of our youth, of our children. We're making an attempt to do something to help in that area," Shipp said.
Kevin Kourous, a parent of a child who will be in kindergarten next year, thinks the program should require parents to specifically opt in for their student to receive firearm instruction.
"Him learning about guns in kindergarten is not something I want him to be learning at that time, as a parental choice," Korous said. "That is just my view. I know other people have their own views and I respect those. So, I feel like this bill should be opt in."
If the program can't be opted into, Korous said he'd want the starting age for the program to be a little later than kindergarten.
On the other hand, some parents were enthusiastic supporters of the legislation as it was outlined by Shipp.
One of those parents was Jeff Jarrett, who runs a local nonprofit called Harley's Angels.
Harley's Angels was inspired by Jarrett's son, Harley Jarrett, who, at the age of 17, was accidentally shot and killed by his friend while looking at a firearm.
"His friend, thinking the gun wasn't loaded, put the gun to my son's head as a joke and that was that," Jarrett said. "I have so much to say about gun safety and kids."
"I've talked to every family that lost a child in 2024, and I see families and communities devastated, and every gun accident that I saw or was affiliated with could've been avoided with education. ... Education is key. Guns are not going anywhere in this country and we need to open the door to education," Jarrett added.
After much discussion, the committee voted to hold the bill for more reworking, clarity and consensus before advancing it further along in the legislative process, though some lawmakers said they'd like to see it advance as is.
Still, considering the general support of the bill from the committee, Thursday's meeting likely won't be the last time it's discussed during the legislative session.
