Thursday, January 20, 2005

Two preventable tragedies

From today's Arizona Republic:

2 boys shot, 1 killed and 1 critical

PHOENIX - A 13-year-old boy was killed and a 6-year-old critically injured Wednesday in two separate shootings apparently caused by youths playing with guns, police said.

I was originally going to put up a post about our responsibility as gun owners to a) teach people to be safe and b) properly control our firearms, but I decided that would be preaching to the choir. Instead, I sent an email to the principal of the school that my children attend.

I absolutely abhor the nanny state, and I think that a great many of the 'issues' our society is facing stem directly from a lack of parental involvement in the raising of children. Too many parents allow and/or expect the public schools to raise their kids for them. Normally I would be against another issue related program that would take the kids away from reading, writing, and ciphering, but in this case I'm willing to make an exception.

I asked about a school program on gun safety.

If you're worried that such a thing could be used by our opponents to preach the glories of an unarmed society of government dependant victims, I have news for you: It's already happening. The gun control freaks are already in our schools.

The death of any child is a tragedy. The death of a child due to unsafe gun handling that could have been prevented through education is horrible. The death of a child due to safe gun handling not being taught because it isn't politically correct is a nightmare.

"They're too dangerous to talk about, so we're going to send you into the world completely unprepared."

In my letter I asked the principal what his opinion of such a program was, and how he thought the school board would react. I offered to write and/or teach a basic course along the lines of the Eddie the Eagle program. I didn't identify it by name just in case there were any negative connotations attached to it being an NRA program. I made a point of saying that my program would be completely devoid of any political or societal overtones. Safety first, last, and always.

I'll let you know what I get back.................



Comments:
I love this logic. Teaching "safe sex" won't lead to "accidental" pregnancy and spread of veneral disease, but teaching "safe shooting" will lead to accidental gunshot death.

They might at least attempt to be consistent.
 
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