Prevention Through Education: Gun education throughout grade school can prevent irresponsible decisions regarding guns in the future

Thousands of students swarmed to downtown Kansas City to attend the Super Bowl parade on Feb. 14. Local schools closed for the celebration, but the day ended with one dead and 21 injured after an argument between several people escalated into a mass shooting, according to BBC.

All gun owners need to be educated on the responsibilities of firearm safety and ownership to ensure that a simple argument does not escalate into a full-blown shooting — especially not in a public setting with children as collateral.

Prevention of gun violence starts with education in grade school. In a poll of 196 students, only 11% believe that East adequately educates them about gun safety. 

In elementary school we’re taught that arguments should never be solved with violence and that the solution is to talk it out and settle it peacefully. Guns are no exception, and the lack of gun education at East needs to be fixed. 

At the national level, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, only nine states — not including Kansas or Missouri — have policies that ensure gun buyers know the safety basics for handling and using firearms. All states need to adopt this policy before allowing a citizen to purchase a gun. Though the Second Amendment states that United States citizens have “the right to bear arms,” it doesn’t say that citizens have the right to own guns irresponsibly. 

According to the Kansas City Star, Lyndell Mays, a 23-year-old charged with second-degree murder at the parade shooting, was previously charged with disorderly conduct when he pulled out a handgun during a dispute on a basketball court at a community center in Belton, Missouri in April 2021.

At the Super Bowl parade, Mays again drew a gun to “protect his siblings,” but in reality his poor decision led to the death of a mother of two and left a permanent scar on Union Station — an epicenter of city celebrations.

Regulations for pulling out a gun and firing need to be put in place. We no longer live in the Wild West, arguments just can’t be settled with bar duels.

And school districts can play a part in preventing gun violence through education. Currently, there’s no national law urging schools to educate their students on gun safety. That needs to change.

Yes, the Shawnee Mission School District instills the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program which educates students briefly on the topic of firearms, but this program ends in sixth grade. In a poll of 172 students, 74% feel that DARE did not adequately teach them about gun safety. Some SMSD schools like Westwood View Elementary don’t even include the DARE program in their curriculum.

A more extensive program needs to be brought to the high school level to ensure that students understand the importance of gun safety. A few minutes of advisory could be geared toward teachers presenting short engaging videos about gun safety to their students. East could also use seminar time to host assemblies discussing gun safety to address student concerns about shootings.

In a poll of 215 students, 62% worry about the possibility of a school shooting at East. And they have reason to be anxious. In February 2018, a teen fatally shot 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. In January 2023, a 6-year-old boy in Virginia shot his teacher after obtaining a gun from his mom’s dresser. Gun safety education programs could help dispel fear of incidents like these because students would better understand the danger guns can present. Death, disabilities and injuries from gun violence can be prevented.

Guns aren’t a toy that kids should have easy access to, and those who chose to buy them — especially parents — need to know how to safely own them.

Students need to learn how to store and handle firearms safely so that violent outbreaks like these are avoided. With education, students will better understand the importance of keeping guns away from their own kids once they reach adulthood. The minors — whose names were not disclosed due to a Missoui law protecting their privacy — involved in the parade shooting may have kept their guns tucked away in their backpacks if they were taught about the serious implications of pulling out a gun in public.

Nationwide gun education is the first step toward a safe community for students and their families.