Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Children learn gun safety

I do not have good data on the number of BB/pellet guns and firearms that were given as Christmas presents this year, but from the numbers I saw being purchased over the past month, I would say that there were quite folks waking up Christmas morning to a wonderful present. Many of these folks will be first time or otherwise inexperienced shooters who will require training in how to safely handle a firearm. That responsibility usually falls upon the giver of the gift or another experienced person close to the family.

The Sheriff's Office of Caddo County in Louisiana offers additional training for those with their first gun.

From The Shreveport Times:


By Adam Kealoha Causey

The pops of .22 rifles firing and the pings of shells hitting concrete a second later filled the brisk air on a recent Saturday.

A row of five boys -- all about 8 to 10 years old -- faced shooting targets with parents, grandparents and Caddo sheriff's deputies directly behind or beside. The group braved the 30-degree temperatures for one purpose: learning the safe use of firearms.

The youngsters attended the first of three offerings of the Caddo sheriff's office "First Gun" courses for the fifth consecutive year at the Sheriff's Regional Training Academy in southern Caddo Parish. The classes are aimed at providing basic instruction for children who have never fired a gun.
This is a great idea, and I applaud the Caddo County Sheriff's for taking on this project.

I found this article on Keep and Bear Arms.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now that's a good picture. But the ear protection thingy can be a turnoff. But still, other sports require protective gear as well.

me said...

Wow, in some areas of the country common sense still IS alive.

I wouldn't quite put money on it, thanks to the public school system, these kids are more likely to be honest citizens who stay out of trouble later in life.

I really wish things like this were required for kids, and with images as graphic as possible to show what CAN happen if you're just "fooling around."

John R said...

A big part of me would like to see firearm safety and marksmanship taught at all public schools. But, they would probably screw it up royaly. Re-instituting the Civilian Marksmanship Program with programs for kids and first time shooters would probably be a better idea.