Arkansas public school students will soon be required to take gun safety courses

The Arkansas state Senate passed a bill to provide age-appropriate firearms safety instruction to students last week and the Arkansas Department of Education will be working with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to develop a plan.

Act 229, also known as House Bill 1117, will require public school districts and open-enrollment public charter schools to annually provide students with instruction on firearm safety.

The bill’s sponsors say the idea came from conversations among neighbors.

PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THIS STATE COULD SOON BE REQUIRED TO TAKE GUN SAFETY COURSES

"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," said Rep. Scott Richardson.

The bill says it will empower the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission to work with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to create and approve age-appropriate firearm safety courses. 

Methods discussed in the bill range from videos to online sources and even mentions the possibility of an off-campus, commission-approved firearm safety course in conjunction with a live-fire exercise or sporting event.

Although these are just options being discussed at this time, the bill does state that if an option of live-fire training is approved, parents will have to give consent.

"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," according to the bill.

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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.