Public school students in Arkansas will soon be required to take gun safety courses as new state laws come into effect.
Last week, the Arkansas State Senate passed a bill to provide age-appropriate firearms safety instruction to students.
The state’s Department of Education will be working with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to develop a plan.
The new rule comes under Act 229, also known as House Bill 1117.
It will require public school districts and open-enrollment public charter schools to provide students with annual instruction on firearm safety.
The bill’s sponsors say the idea came from conversations among neighbors.
Republican State Rep. Scott Richardson explains:
“All of our children play together and invade whatever home happens to be the play of the day.”
“And in that process, they may go into a neighbor’s home and discover that unsecured firearm, and how would they react?”
The bill says it will empower the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission to work with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.
They will work together to create and approve age-appropriate firearm safety courses.
Methods discussed in the bill range from videos to online sources.
It also mentions the possibility of an off-campus, commission-approved firearm safety course.
The safety course would include a live-fire exercise or sporting event.
These are just options being discussed at this time.
However, the bill does state that parents will have to give consent if the option of live-fire training is approved.
The text of the bill states:
“If an off-campus, commission-approved firearm safety course is provided in conjunction with a live-fire exercise or sporting event, the provider of the off-campus, commission-approved firearm safety course and the public school district or open-enrollment public charter school in which the participating student is enrolled shall obtain prior written approval from the participating student’s parent, legal guardian, or person standing in loco parentis to the participating student.”
The committee will also be responsible for determining the earliest grade appropriate for students to begin receiving the training.
Instruction will begin with the 2025-2026 school year.
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