Here’s an interesting letter to the editor
A letter writer on Thursday said, “I’m not against the Second Amendment, but” … an all too familiar refrain we hear coming from readers, politicians, media and even this newspaper’s editorial board (“Keep the incompetents from owning weapons,” Opinions).
This reader says we need some “control” over the issue, singling out legitimate risks to police and the public.
So, let’s get with it already. No high-school diploma should be issued without one credit in gun safety and marksmanship.
Half of all homes (probably more in this gun-friendly state) have guns — an immediately deadly constitutionally protected tool. Protect our children. Protect our law-enforcement officers. Protect the public. Eliminate dangerous “zero-tolerance policies” that keep children ignorant and helpless.
Instead, teach them.
You want a zero-tolerance policy? Summarily dismiss teachers who insist on gun ignorance in the classroom.
Arizona’s Court of Appeals recently overturned Phoenix’s censorship of this message at public bus stops. Be smart and follow through with students, teach real gun safety — not hoplophobic gun avoidance — in schools.
— Alan Korwin, Scottsdale
Source: http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/letters/2014/05/19/get-smart-firearm-safety-mandatory-high-school-course/9308367/
I agree with the spirit of the letter, but in a free society there’s no room for mandatory anything. Just like I don’t want gun-haters to mess with my guns, I don’t wish to mess with gun-hater’s parental rights. Just like I hated being forced to participate in physical education (back then there were no trophies for participation), I wouldn’t anti-gunners being forced to shoot guns at the range.
We can have gun education and markmanship training in schools, as an elective. The American school system is superior in choice because some kids take AP courses while others do woodworking or home economics. We’re not Chinese or Indian, we’re not marching in lockstep, this is exactly why I fear common core and other federal initiatives that seek to make all our kids the same.
I admire Korwin’s spirit, but at this point it’s hard enough to get the teachers to be pro-gun or at least not teach propaganda, so a mandatory markmanship class is a bad idea.
Let the kids do what they want, defend high school gun clubs, conservative clubs, the Boy Scouts, fight anti-Second Amendment propaganda in school textbooks, but beware of making anything mandatory and trusting the teachers with gun education. I don’t even trust them with social studies and English (when they assign controversial books).
