Will gun safety instruction be required in Utah's K-12 classrooms?

SALT LAKE CITY — Like many Utahns, Rep. Rex Shipp has lamented recent news accounts of gun accidents taking the lives of local children.

Now Shipp is hoping his bill requiring that firearm safety instruction be taught in Utah's public schools will help prevent such tragedies from ever occurring.

HB104 would mandate that gun safety be regularly taught to the state's K-12 students.

The proposed classroom firearm safety sessions would be brief — five to 10 minutes in length — and typically involve students watching an approved instructional video.

As outlined in the bill, schools would be required to provide brief firearm safety courses three times during a student's primary school years, including kindergarten.

Middle school students would then be required to participate in similar courses during their junior high years — and once during high school.

Parents would be alerted to upcoming firearm safety courses and also allowed to "opt-out" their children.

In his presentation Wednesday to the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Standing Committee, Shipp, R-Cedar City, said providing firearm safety instruction in public schools already exists in state code.

"But it's an optional thing — and nobody's teaching it," he said.

It's essential that Utah's children know the basics of firearm safety, argued Shipp.

Polls show there are guns in about half of the state's households.

"And even if kids may not have firearms in their own home, they're going to go to a friend's house, and (maybe) they're going to come in contact (with a gun)," he said.

HB104 would educate them with the know-how to manage such situations — and stay safe if they come across a firearm or see someone else playing with a gun.

The proposed school firearms safety courses, Shipp added, would be "developmentally appropriate and, in most cases, it's just going to be a five-minute video that basically teaches (children) that if they see a firearm, don't touch it, and tell a trusted adult."

Instruction would also include "the best practices and guidelines for the safe handling and storage of a firearm to prevent accidents and ensure personal safety."

Shipp emphasized his bill is anchored to protecting children.

"This is about safety — it's politically neutral," he said. "It's not anti-gun. It's not pro-gun."

If ratified, HB104 would allow schools to decide to show an instructional video or provide live instruction — and it could be incorporated into health and physical education curricula.

The bill notes that if any instruction were to include an actual firearm, the instructor must be someone who is legally allowed to possess and handle firearms on school premises such as a school resource officer, under Utah law.

Mixed responses

Wednesday, Shipp's school firearms safety instruction bill ultimately received committee approval to advance to the Senate floor but not before some pushback.

Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake City, called it ironic "that we're not able to teach comprehensive sex education and things like that in school — while we're going to mandate a curriculum like this."

Blouin added that firearm safety is "a gun-access issue" that perhaps demands parental education.

A statewide rule requiring public schools to provide the proposed firearm safety instruction "is completely inappropriate," he said.

During public comment, Nika Alder, a board member of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, said the burden of firearm safety should be placed on adults who own firearms rather than grade-school children.

"Let's pass bills that require adults to act responsibly — not ones that require children to act responsibly and permit adult gun owners to act irresponsibly," she said.

Clark Aposhian, of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, said his organization supports HB104.

"The only reason that we ought to do this is if we care about our kids, because education in this type of thing is always better than ignorance," he said.

"The (school firearm safety instruction) is going to cover things like, say, a child finding a firearm at home or at a friend's home or out on the street — or even what to do if they find out that their friend has a gun in their backpack at school," he said.

Shipp said he "wholeheartedly agrees" that adults should shoulder the burden of firearm safety.

But if brief firearms safety instruction offered a few times during a Utah child's school years saves lives, "I think it's well worth it."

Related topics