Maryland school district adds gun safety to curriculum

Health teacher Diane Steppling teaches a gun education lesson at East Middle School in Carroll County, Maryland

March 6, 2001
Web posted at: 11:46 AM EST (1646 GMT)

From Jonathan Aiken
CNN Correspondent

WESTMINSTER, Maryland (CNN) -- A school district's mandatory gun safety lesson has piqued the interest of a half-dozen states and prompted state legislators to propose laws requiring all schools in the state to offer the information.

But some experts say a gun safety program void of message reinforcement at home is incomplete.

Carroll County schools in Maryland had already warned pupils about the dangers of guns. But last August, the rural district -- 25 miles northwest of Baltimore -- became the nation's first to make gun safety a required lesson within its health and life classes from kindergarten to 12th grade.

ALSO Talking about school violence -- Experts say creating a two-way dialogue is crucial in wake of Santana shootings     QUICKVOTE Would you support having gun safety lessons as a mandatory part of your school district's curriculum? Yes. Teachers can help reinforce the message that children should be careful around firearms. No. Teaching gun safety is a parental responsibility. View Results

"We don't look at it as a polarizing effect on the community -- whether it's pro-gun, anti gun," said Bill Piercy, Carroll County schools' assistant supervisor of staff development and health education. "We look at it as a health and safety issue and that's how we treat it in our classes."

The message is a simple one: "If you find a gun, stay clam. Leave. Tell an adult right away."

The amount of time spent on the lesson, which is part of the district's health curriculum, varies by grade level. In kindergarten, students might get 15 to 30 minutes of instruction on gun safety. But in 7th grade, curriculum writers proposed that students get the lesson in one or two class periods during their Stress and Coping Skills unit.

Seventh-graders dissect scenarios looking at the emotions and consequences that come from contact with a firearm.

School officials met with parents, teachers, law enforcement representatives and counselors to develop the lesson. It is modeled after the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle program. But Eddie Eagle is for students in kindergarten through sixth grade, and the district wanted a program that would extend through 12th grade.

The National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle education campaign

While state legislators are eager to have other schools duplicate Carroll County's gun safety courses, limited research suggests children who go through gun safety classes are just as likely to be curious about a firearm as children who haven't had those lessons.

And some would like to see adult involvement beyond teachers.

"I have not seen evidence of significant, parental involvement in the current gun safety education aimed at children in schools," said Daniel Webster, assistant professor at the John Hopkins School of Public Safety. "I think that is where I would like to see the greatest improvement."

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Carroll County Public Schools
National Rifle Association

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