NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — This school year, elementary, middle, and high school students in several states will receive a new lesson on safety: what to do if they find a firearm.
Arkansas, Tennessee, and Utah are leading the way as the first states to require public schools to teach children as young as five years old the basics of gun safety and proper firearm storage at home. Notably, only Utah’s law allows parents or guardians to opt their children out of the lesson. A similar law was vetoed in Arizona, and lawmakers in at least five other states have introduced similar proposals, fueling fresh debate over gun violence and the role of schools in prevention.
### Gun Safety Lessons in Action
In Tennessee, lesson materials may include stickers, games, quizzes, and videos featuring music and colorful illustrations—including depictions of firearms made from Lego-style bricks and explanations of what a muzzleloader is. The reality is that many U.S. children are exposed to firearms at a young age. At Berclair Elementary School in Memphis, when a class of 16 fifth-graders was asked if they had seen a real gun, nearly all raised their hands.
“It just shows you how much a class like this is needed,” said Tammie Chapman, a health and physical education instructor who leads gun safety lessons at the school.
“While there is some controversy around guns, there doesn’t always have to be,” added Emily Buck, director of public relations for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The agency partnered with the state Department of Education to create the curriculum. “I think that having some education and foundational knowledge really can be beneficial in the long run.”
### “Stop, Don’t Touch, Leave Quickly, Tell an Adult”
The curriculum in these states is usually adapted from hunting safety courses provided by state wildlife agencies, but with important differences. Unlike hunter education—which includes handling and shooting firearms—these school-based lessons emphasize that children should never touch a firearm.
Tennessee’s law prohibits the use of actual firearms in lessons, while Arkansas allows parents to opt into alternative curriculums that could include supervised, off-campus firearm safety courses.
The key message across all lessons is simple:
**Stop. Don’t touch. Leave quickly. Tell an adult.**
This approach is in line with safety messaging from other organizations, including the National Rifle Association, which uses animated characters, videos, and coloring pages to reinforce the message.
At Berclair Elementary, educators designed a relay-race game for student engagement. In the gym, students searched buckets for pictures—those who found images of guns immediately reported it to an adult and listened to a catchy jingle reminding them of the safety steps.
Buck acknowledged that sometimes adults are responsible for creating unsafe situations by leaving firearms accessible. “We hope that maybe students will take some of what they learned back to their house, back to the parents, and maybe they’ll encourage their parents to adjust their storage method,” she said.
### Aiming for Neutrality
Gun legislation is a highly partisan and contentious issue across the country, with Democratic-led states enacting more restrictions and Republican-led states often opposing such measures. The gun safety education bills in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Utah were sponsored and supported by Republican lawmakers. The laws require that the curricula maintain a neutral stance on gun ownership and related topics.
Voices for a Safer Tennessee, a nonpartisan nonprofit founded by parents after The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, supports the legislation. The organization backs gun ownership but also advocates for measures like expanded background checks.
“These lessons may encourage families to start necessary conversations,” said Jessica Jaglois, director of communications for Voices for a Safer Tennessee. “It could possibly prevent a firearm tragedy from occurring, because we know that a moment of access can lead to a lifetime of tragedy.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, in 2022, firearms were the leading cause of death among children and teens. According to an AP analysis, Arkansas and Tennessee both have rates of firearm deaths among children and teens that exceed the national average.
### Critics Question the Approach
Not everyone agrees with the classroom-focused strategy. Some Democrats and gun control advocates argue that such legislation misses the larger issue.
“Using the school day to teach kids about guns won’t stop adults from leaving their firearms unsecured or keeping deadly weapons out of dangerous hands,” said Meg Beauregard, policy counsel fellow at Everytown for Gun Safety. “If lawmakers were serious about protecting students, they’d pass laws that hold adults accountable, such as secure storage—not put the burden on kids to keep themselves safe.”
### How Will Schools Implement the Lessons?
States have granted school districts flexibility in how they adopt the curriculum, allowing the use of provided lesson plans or other approved materials. Schools can choose which faculty or staff deliver the lessons or, in some cases, invite police officers to speak.
In Arkansas, lessons might be incorporated into annual safety training, alongside fire or tornado drills. “We hope they will interject this in a way that kind of helps to maybe prevent some of these accidents from occurring, but not in a way that puts a political focus or fear around that, because it’s just not the place for that,” said Spencer Griffith, deputy director at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Berclair Elementary Principal Clint Davis noted that the risk of children being injured by firearms is not new, even if the curriculum is. “It’s not something that’s necessarily just become a modern issue. It’s always been there,” Davis said. “And I think we’re just now really responding to the need to provide that sort of training in school.”
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*Reporting by Kimberlee Kruesi and Adriana Gomez Licon. Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise (Nashville) and Kasturi Pananjady (Philadelphia) contributed to this report.*
https://ktar.com/national-news/some-states-are-requiring-gun-safety-lessons-in-schools-that-teach-kids-stop-dont-touch/5772565/