Virginia school kids to learn about gun safety–opponents of gun safety object

Virginia has recently passed a law requiring the state Board of Education to draw up a curriculum for gun safety education for elementary schools.

The Virginia General Assembly has directed the state’s Board of Education to develop course materials for teaching gun safety to elementary school children that incorporate the guidelines of a National Rifle Association program.

Governor Bob McDonnnell vetoed one portion of the bill (the Virginia state constitution allows for partial vetoes) that would have permitted the Board to use material not only from the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program but also from the National Crime Prevention Council (McGruff the Crime Dog’s organization). Some find this objectionable.

A group called Virginians for Public Safety, which works closely with pro-gun-control family members of victims of the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, is calling on the legislature to reject McDonnell’s change in the gun education bill [both House and Senate voted last Wednesday to approve Governor McDonnell's veto].

“If a school division elects to have this program, it should not be the exclusive domain of the gun lobby to supply the material,” said Alice Mountjoy, a founding member of the group. “It’s very narrow and, to my mind, narrow-minded.”

This objection to “the gun lobby’s message” comes despite the fact that the Eddie Eagle program is designed to be neutral about the desirability of gun ownership (or lack thereof), and focuses only on teaching kids never to handle a firearm without adult supervision.

Lori Haas, also of the Virginia Center for Public Safety, took an even more extreme position–not wanting any gun safety instruction in schools.

“I personally don’t think firearm safety has a place in the schools,” Lori Haas, spokeswoman for the Virginia Center for Public Safety, told FoxNews.com. “That’s up to the parents to teach that at home.

Many students of the “guns are evil” school of thought seem to share Ms. Haas’s “see no evil, hear no evil” attitude–ignorance is forcible citizen disarmament lobby bliss.

This attitude has also been seen in Illinois. State Representative Annazette Collins–although herself an active advocate for every restrictive gun law to come along–once had the temerity to suggest that gun safety education would be a good idea. Father Michael “Snuffy” Pfleger (who earned the “Snuffy” sobriquet by threatening to “snuff out” a gun shop owner and pro-gun rights legislators) compared was apoplectic.

“That’s like saying we might as well sell drugs legally..we don’t want access to guns. We have children dying in this city. We’re talking about teaching gets kids in grammar school how to shoot guns? That’s crazy.” said Father Michael Pflager of St. Sabina Church.

Opponents of gun safety education would prefer to indulge their irrational fears than to allow children to be provided with the knowledge to keep them safe. “Anti-gun” does not describe such people as well as “anti-safety” does.