State Rep. James White (R-19) has filed a bill that would allow local school boards to create a new high school elective in Texas public schools: Firearms education.
“The origins of liberty in our great nation reside in large part with the idea espoused in the Second Amendment,” said Representative White. “As a conservative, I want Texas students to have the option to learn more about both this critical part of our Constitution, and the practical knowledge of how to safely operate the common arms Texans use for hunting and self-defense.”
HB 1142 would educate students about firearm safety and training, and hunter’s safety. All instructors would be required to be a qualified and certified handgun instructor, or a licensed peace officer employed by a local law enforcement agency. This optional course would involve students learning proper maintenance, cleaning, and safe use of common firearms such as: pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns. The bill would also provide for education on the history and importance of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Read more on White’s bill here.
James White is part of the class of 2010 in the Texas legislature, in which Texas Republicans won over 100 seats in the state House for the first time in state history. White defeated the last east Texas Democrat then elected to the state House, finishing a change that had been underway for years as Texans abandon the statist Democrats for the more business and family friendly GOP.
Rep. White is a black conservative Republican who served as a combat training officer in the US Army. He is also a former high school teacher.
About time. My father’s generation they had rifle teams at the schools. When they went to fight in WWII that early familiarity paid huge dividends. Where the average Japanese soldier had trouble hitting a man past 100 yards, we had many men capable of hitting a man at 400+ yards with their M1 Garands.
Today only the enthusiasts among us shoot that well. Though our military is reasonably well trained, average soldier marksmanship is down where more & more of our soldiers are inner city residents who’s first handling of a rifle was boot camp.
Not just yes but hell yes. That’s what “well regulated” means in the Second Amendment — that the militia be as familiar with the use of arms as a hypothetical (and all but universally opposed) standing army would be.
The only problem I have with this is why wait until high school.
With an estimated 300 plus million firearms in private hands in the United States what is the likelihood that a child will never inadvertently encounter one while not under adult supervision?
I would like to see age appropriate gun safety and safe handling taught at every level of public school from kindergarten on. At the earliest ages that would be “don’t touch, tell an adult what you’ve found,” followed by basic safety and gun handling for the older kids. Should fall in the same category as “this is how to safely cross the street” or “what to do in case of a fire.”
I took “hunter safety,” which was actually just safe handling of firearms, in junior high school — but long before that we had guns in the home and my brother and I were allowed to handle BB guns.
I think you’re right, though. Whereas people of my generation would have learned the basics of gun safety at home, that’s no longer the case. If our nation is going to be serious about this it will have to step in and teach kids what parents won’t or can’t. For the security of free states.