Gun control fails again; it's time to focus on education

Despite a host of state and federal laws prohibiting children from possessing firearms, and from bringing them into a school safety zone, the Columbus Dispatch is reporting that 117 kids were either suspended or expelled last year for bringing guns into "gun-free" Columbus City school zones.

The news came to light in the wake of news that a second-grader had shot himself in the hand with a .45 caliber handgun he found somewhere other than his home and brought to school in his backpack.

OFCC President Jeff Garvas says enough is enough – it’s time to stop relying on failed gun control restrictions, and start focusing on education.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

By Jeff Garvas

It’s only a matter of time before we hear anti-gun pundits thumping
their chests over the second grader who found a handgun and brought it
to school. Instead of answers to the problem they'll use this incident
to further their agenda to ban more guns, as if that is prevention.

What we need is statewide prevention through mandatory education.

We will never be able to guarantee that a child will “never” find a
firearm, as in this case. What is important is the fact that at least
three separate children saw the firearm and not one of them did anything
to prevent this tragedy, likely because they didn't know better.

Ohio's lawmakers approved funding for schools to offer the NRA's Eddie Eagle GunSafe® to kids of this age. The program should be implemented
immediately as mandatory education statewide.

The program never shows a firearm or pushes firearm ownership. It
teaches children who find a firearm a very simple mantra:

STOP! Don't touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.

We teach children to stop, drop, and roll if they catch on fire, why not
this? The Eddie Eagle program has been adopted by other states as
mandated statewide education -- and it should be in Ohio, too. As the
anti-gun pundits would say: If it saves just one child…

Related Story:
Ohio Funds Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program in Schools for Second Year