Safest or most dangerous

 Safest or Most Dangerous           

 

Whether the new program in Wyoming makes schools safer or more dangerous depends on your point of view.  In most schools in the country weapons are banned. Not true in Wyoming.  In the very small Hot Springs School District #1, fifth and sixth graders are learning marksmanship in the school gym as part of their physical education program.

The students have air rifles and shoot at targets on the other side of the gym.  Air rifles generally use gas stored in a small canister to propel a BB or pellet out of the barrel at relatively high speed.  Generally these weapons are not lethal but they can be.  And they can also cause serious harm.  They are regularly the cause of blindness. 

The school district says the kids are taught safety measures and are sharpening their skills.  The question is- skills to do what!

Lots of folks are very supportive of the program insisting it will make schools safer because children will know how to use weapons safely.  But there are lots of questions to ask about this program.  First of all, do children eleven and twelve years old have the maturity to handle a weapon that can be lethal and in the best case severely injurious?   Secondly, how do we know that these kids won’t graduate to real firearms as they grow older.   In 2021 there were 34 school shooting invasions that killed or seriously injured multiple people.   Some people have asked the significant question- do these kids go from training target shooting right into active shooter drills within the school.

There are many folk who believe that responsible gun ownership is what more children need.

There are lots of facts to consider.   First and foremost is the fact that guns kill more people than other weapons such as knives or a blunt object.   Gun advocates will tell you that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  But the fact remains that people with guns are more effective killers than people with knives.  In 2021 alone, there have already been 21 accidental gun shootings by children, killing 9 people and injuring 19.   Over 500 children have been accidentally killed by people over 21.Do we want to train our kids to be more effective killers?  

Secondly, a certain percentage of the kids being trained to be accurate shooters will develop mental health issues. The  CDC has indicated 26% of Americans 18 and older do have mental illness.   It is generally accepted that folks who shoot up schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, hospitals have some significant mental issues.   Is it in our best interests to help that those folks be better sharpshooters?

Lastly, these very young children do not have fully developed frontal brain lobes.  It is the frontal lobes that help regulate spontaneous action.   We can teach these kids to be safe but can we give them more rapidly developing frontal lobes.

Maybe schools aren’t the place to take up arms.