Several states now require public schools to teach gun safety to students.
Arkansas, Tennessee, and Utah are the first three states to enact laws that require schools to teach children as young as five about proper gun storage and what to do if they find a firearm, ABC reports.
Lawmakers in at least five other states have introduced similar proposals. A similar law was vetoed in Arizona by Governor Katie Hobbs.
The curriculums emphasize what students should do if they find a firearm: Stop, don’t touch, leave quickly, tell an adult. The lessons are often adapted from hunting safety courses administered by state hunting and wildlife agencies. Participating states give school districts the option to use provided lesson plans or other instructions that adhere to the laws’ language.
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In Arkansas, schools can choose to incorporate the lessons as a part of annual safety training, such as when they are practicing fire safety or tornado drills, said Spencer Griffith, a deputy director with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
In Utah, students can opt out of the lessons if requested by a parent or guardian. According to St. George News, the law requires a local education agency to provide firearm safety instruction to students.
In Tennessee, lesson plans can include stickers, games, quizzes, or videos, according to ABC. At Berclair Elementary School in Memphis, faculty created a relay race where students run to buckets with different pictures. When they find a picture of a gun, they report it to an adult. They also made up a jingle to help students remember the steps.
When a class of fifth graders at the school were asked if they had seen a real gun, nearly all raised their hands, said Tammie Chapman, a health and physical education instructor who has been leading the lessons at this school.
“It just shows you how much a class like this is needed,” she added.
Gun Safety in Schools: Curriculum Emphasizes Safe Gun Storage
Emily Buck, director of public relations for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, which created a curriculum with the state Department of Education, told ABC that the curriculum helps students prepare for if they find a gun improperly stored in their home.
“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.
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A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found up to 43% of U.S. households store their guns loaded and half of those households do not store them in locked containers.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Education issued a new resource for school administrators on the importance of safe firearm storage. Schools can use the resource to communicate with parents and families about the importance of safe firearm storage, and encourage more people to take preventive action by safely storing firearms.
Firearms are the leading cause of death in the United States for children aged 0-19 years, with more than 4,700 pediatric gun-related deaths reported in 2021. According to a Dec. 2023 report from the CDC, more than half of unintentional firearm injury deaths among children and adolescents occurred at home.
Berclair Principal Clint Davis said while the curriculum is new, the issue of children getting injured in firearm accidents is not.
“It’s not something that’s necessarily just become a modern issue. It’s always been there,” he said. “And I think we’re just now really responding to the need to provide that sort of training in school.”
