CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A significant drop in the number of hunters in West Virginia has left a hole in the state's budget, and one lawmaker thinks he has a solution: allow children to receive hunter training in school.

 

Seventh- through ninth-graders could opt for instruction in topics ranging from survival skills to gun safety, but the weapons would have dummy ammunition or be disabled. Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, who introduced the bill this month, doesn't envision students firing real guns during class time.

 

"It's a way to take this kind of education in the classroom and make it more convenient for young people," said Bailey, a Wyoming County Democrat.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080131/ap_on_re_us/young_hunters

Great idea. It not only attempts to keep alive a great tradition but instructs young folks on the proper and safe way to do it. It is hard to imagine that West Virginia would have to resort to this

I too think its a good idea. At the very least they learn gun safety and come out with a respect for firearms.

I too think its a good idea. At the very least they learn gun safety and come out with a respect for firearms.

 

 

That is the best thing that would come out of this in my mind.

It's a good idea, but I could also understand the argument against it.

It's a good idea, but I could also understand the argument against it.

 

 

Enlighten me, please.

I think its a good idea also. Kids are fascinated with things they haven't experienced in the past. From an early age, I introduced my two sons to guns. I wanted them to not be fascinated with one if they went over to the neighbors house and stumbled across one. I wanted them to understand what a gun was for and more importantly the danger and power involved. I repeated with them something my father had done with me: I set a pumpkin in the yard at the farm and had them shoot it. When it exploded, I calmly pointed out to them that that's what would happen if they ever pointed a gun at some one and accidently pulled the trigger. It is seared in my brain and I'm sure the brains of my children. Gun safety courses would in my opinion prevent a lot of gun accidents. I see no downside to doing it whatsoever.

The only way I could support this is if admittance to the class required the student to be very, very high achieving.

The only way I could support this is if admittance to the class required the student to be very, very high achieving.

 

Disagree. This could be a thing that a low achieving kid could latch on. They love this stuff and gives them something about school they love.

 

In addition, if the economy continues on it teaches them a valuable tool that could help them with providing for their family in a very low cost way. There are many families that 80-90% of their meat is provided by the father hunting.

 

It is an economic/consumerism tool that teaches them to be self-sufficient.

 

Would be good thing for Ag classes to go back to teaching kids how to raise a garden instead of just how to maintain the turf.

The only way I could support this is if admittance to the class required the student to be very, very high achieving.

 

Don't confuse this with a handgun safety class. It is to promote hunting and weapons safety is a part of that.

 

I'm sure we've all seen the statement that no tax dollars are spent on wildlife or habitat in Kentucky. Elk, deer, otters, turkey and the like have all been reestablished and cared for thanks to the fees collected on hunting licenses and taxes on hunting supplies. Even non-game animals and conservation issues are paid for in the same manner.

Disagree. This could be a thing that a low achieving kid could latch on. They love this stuff and gives them something about school they love.

 

Perhaps, but if the standards were raised they might work a little harder in their other classes to get into it. I just have a problem with school's teaching nearly everything but what is important. We may have kids who know why Suzie has two moms, how to hunt, how to raise cattle, or how to bake a cake, but we don't have kids who are strong in subject areas that will make us successful.

OK, let me give you another side to this. I understand everything that's been written so far and can't say I absolutely disagree with it. But there most certainly is another thought on this issue and it is hardly so cut and dried as some of you make it to be.

 

There is a big difference between having kids have a "respect" for guns and them becoming "comfortable" being around guns. I don't want any part whatsoever of the latter. You are talking about some pretty young - and still immature - kids. Try to think back when you were that age (yes, I know for some of us, it's a long, long time ago - me included). You knew everything about everything, did you not? Get kids to feel they are "experts" at handling and shooting firearms and you are asking for problems. I'd much prefer to have kids have a "fearful respect" of them, if that's possible. I would certainly support some restrictions on who would be eligible for attending such a school-endorsed firearms class. I know in my daughter's 8th grade class there are some real "punks" that I'd prefer not to see recieve formalized weapon training through school. And as far as there being families that "need" this training because 80-90% of their food comes from hunting - please. Where are we? The Oregan Trail in the 1890's? If a family really needs to hunt to put food on their table, they don't need the school system to teach them to do so.

 

For the record, I know someone who was really big on instilling firearms training in his son at a very young age. "Teach him how to respect a gun", he would always say. So one day as his son was showing his friends all the neat things he had learned about firearms from his dad, he shot and killed one of his friends accidentally. Accidents can and do happen with firearms and those accidents are often deadly. Yes, the gun should have been properly secured so that his kid couldn't have access to it. But again, they're KIDS. They get into things they shouldn't. They behave in ways they shouldn't.

 

I am not saying this school training idea is a bad one. But, it is a bit more complex of an issue than I think some of you are giving it. I've been in law enforcement for 20 years and a firearms instuctor for 18 of them. Be careful about so easily putting a firearm in the hands of a 12-14 year old. I know nothing bad could ever happen to "your" son, right? Because you're going to train him so throroughly about the values and mechanics of shooting a gun, right? There's been alot of people who said the exact same thing that wish their son was still alive today from a deadly firearms accident.

Don't confuse this with a handgun safety class. It is to promote hunting and weapons safety is a part of that.

 

Wow. Teach them how to shoot and kill with a weapon, but make the weapons safety aspect of the training kind of secondary, huh? That's not a recipe for disaster.

OK, let me give you another side to this. I understand everything that's been written so far and can't say I absolutely disagree with it. But there most certainly is another thought on this issue and it is hardly so cut and dried as some of you make it to be.

 

There is a big difference between having kids have a "respect" for guns and them becoming "comfortable" being around guns. I don't want any part whatsoever of the latter. You are talking about some pretty young - and still immature - kids. Try to think back when you were that age (yes, I know for some of us, it's a long, long time ago - me included). You knew everything about everything, did you not? Get kids to feel they are "experts" at handling and shooting firearms and you are asking for problems. I'd much prefer to have kids have a "fearful respect" of them, if that's possible. I would certainly support some restrictions on who would be eligible for attending such a school-endorsed firearms class. I know in my daughter's 8th grade class there are some real "punks" that I'd prefer not to see recieve formalized weapon training through school. And as far as there being families that "need" this training because 80-90% of their food comes from hunting - please. Where are we? The Oregan Trail in the 1890's? If a family really needs to hunt to put food on their table, they don't need the school system to teach them to do so.

 

For the record, I know someone who was really big on instilling firearms training in his son at a very young age. "Teach him how to respect a gun", he would always say. So one day as his son was showing his friends all the neat things he had learned about firearms from his dad, he shot and killed one of his friends accidentally. Accidents can and do happen with firearms and those accidents are often deadly. Yes, the gun should have been properly secured so that his kid couldn't have access to it. But again, they're KIDS. They get into things they shouldn't. They behave in ways they shouldn't.

 

I am not saying this school training idea is a bad one. But, it is a bit more complex of an issue than I think some of you are giving it. I've been in law enforcement for 20 years and a firearms instuctor for 18 of them. Be careful about so easily putting a firearm in the hands of a 12-14 year old. I know nothing bad could ever happen to "your" son, right? Because you're going to train him so throroughly about the values and mechanics of shooting a gun, right? There's been alot of people who said the exact same thing that wish their son was still alive today from a deadly firearms accident.

 

You raise some valid points. All I know is my own experiences. Does anyone else remember from a long time ago a hard bound book about guns that on the last page was an article entitled "I didn't know it was loaded". The article was a story about a young kid who got access to a rifle, pointed it at his friend jokingly, pulled the trigger and killed his friend. The article's title was the phrase the young kid sobbingly repeated over and over. My Dad had me read it over and over, in fact so many times that at one point in my life a long, long time ago, I could have probably repeated every word from memory. There will be some people that refuse to heed what they are taught in this type of class, then again, my guess is that they would have probably done something stupid anyway if they came across a gun. I don't really think that this type of class would actually stimulate some kid's desire to go out and get a gun, but I could be wrong. I truly think in balance that a lot more good than harm would be generated from kids having gun safety lessons taught to them.

OK, let me give you another side to this. I understand everything that's been written so far and can't say I absolutely disagree with it. But there most certainly is another thought on this issue and it is hardly so cut and dried as some of you make it to be.

 

There is a big difference between having kids have a "respect" for guns and them becoming "comfortable" being around guns. I don't want any part whatsoever of the latter. You are talking about some pretty young - and still immature - kids. Try to think back when you were that age (yes, I know for some of us, it's a long, long time ago - me included). You knew everything about everything, did you not? Get kids to feel they are "experts" at handling and shooting firearms and you are asking for problems. I'd much prefer to have kids have a "fearful respect" of them, if that's possible. I would certainly support some restrictions on who would be eligible for attending such a school-endorsed firearms class. I know in my daughter's 8th grade class there are some real "punks" that I'd prefer not to see recieve formalized weapon training through school.

 

Again, you're looking at only the firearms aspect of the class. I believe the article said the weapons would, or could, be made incapable of firing. What I envision is a class where students are taught a respect for the outdoors, conservation practices, safety (not only in firearms handling but dealing with weather, terrain, and animals), and each other. An actual "hunt" could be conducted regardless of season by use of a camera. Wild game cooking classes could be taught. Last but not least, it could cause some kids to get off the couch and outside. I see nothing but upside for this program and I hope gun phobias don't stop it short.