Elizabeth Beeson

While I value firearm safety and understand the importance of education, this mandate crosses a line by shifting responsibility away from parents and placing it on young children and public schools. Teaching safe firearm handling is a family matter and should reflect the values, beliefs, and readiness of each household—not a state-enforced curriculum applied uniformly to children as young as five. Gun safety begins at home, and adults—not schools—should be held accountable for secure storage and responsible ownership. Instead of requiring unproven school-based programs like the Eddie Eagle Gunsafe curriculum, which research shows is ineffective outside of controlled settings, we should encourage parents to take a more active role in education and secure storage practices.