If Birth Control Pills Are OK For School Teens, Why Not Firearms and Firearms Education?

Final thought for the weekend . . .

In the still turbulant wake of an announcement by Portland, Maine's Board of Education to allow a middle school health clinic to issue kids birth control pills, I had some thoughts. Specifically, if you have followed the news, the argument put forth by proponents of this controversial measure boils down to one thing -- kids are going to have sex, they are having sex, so we may as well do something to keep them safe and help prevent teen pregnancies. That, in a nutshell, is their message. Now a lot of parents around the nation are in an uproar. But a significant percentage of parents and so-called "experts" support the notion. Interesting . . .

Alright. I propose the following: Kids like to pretend to use guns. Kids are getting guns, kids are going to get guns. Kids are going to use guns. Remember, according to gun control advocates, guns are practically lying around everywhere just waiting to be picked up and used in a criminal manner (take a look at their websites -- it is the theme of most). So, we may as well do something to keep young people safe, teach them responsible firearms safety rules, and keep them from shooting each other.

Therefore, utilizing the same argument as proponents of the birth control measure, I put forth that the school boards of our school systems need to provide firearms and firearm safety classes. Am I serious? Well, providing firearms is an intriguing thought. Yet schools have trouble taking care of other educational tools, such as band instruments. So they might not have the means to do so. Unless, like volunteer band managers who maintain woodwind, brass and percussion instruments, schools could recruit volunteer gunsmiths from the student population to help keep firearms clean, properly lubricated and in working order (it would teach a still needed trade, too). Hmmm . . . a real conundrum.

But firearms safety training is a given, a real no-brainer. It is no different than swimming lessons that help prevent kids from drowning; like fire safety that keeps kids from playing with matches; like Red Cross training that teaches young people to perform CPR and save a choking victim, or a drowning victim, or a heart attack victim.

Still, what makes this discussion even more serious is the irony of it all. Keep in mind that the very same well-meaning people who believe they are doing work that no one else thinks about, that of keeping kids safe, and in this case are urging schools to provide condoms, lessons on using condoms, and birth control pills to our kids . . . are the people who vehemently protest the mere mention of providing firearms safety education to young people -- training that saves lives each and every day.

Confusing, isn't it?