The New Hampshire House tabled a bill Thursday that would have, among other things, required “firearm safety training” for all public school students starting in kindergarten.
The legislation would’ve required one hour of “age-appropriate” gun safety training annually in public schools, teaching avoidance to students in grades K-5 and handling principles and firearms laws for students in grades 6-12.
It caused controversy when it was added to a Senate bill that would’ve increased the penalties for repeated intoxicated driving offenses and for refusing to submit to a blood, urine or breath test.
Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, who had introduced the firearms training amendment, said that it would promote public safety by allowing kids to learn about guns through schools and not through places like TikTok.
State Rep. Terry Roy simulates holding a pistol in arguments over a bill to limit liability for gun manufacturers in some instances. Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed it into law Friday.
But opponents said that trainings would not prevent gun violence nor make kids safer and that it shouldn’t be on students to protect themselves from such violence.
Rep. Donald McFarlane, R-Orange said he made the tabling motion because “this bill and this amendment are contentious and are likely not to pass.”
Legislators largely seemed to agree with him, as the House tabled the bill in a vote of 256 to 106.
The bill is now unlikely to pass unless it is taken off the table, as Thursday was the last day to act on all Senate bills.
Sig Sauer pistol
Other states have passed similar gun safety training bills
While the measure is likely to fail in New Hampshire, some states have passed similar legislation to mandate firearm safety instruction in schools.
Arkansas recently passed a law to make gun safety courses mandatory for public school students. It directs the state Fish and Game Commission to work with schools to create a firearm safety course that would teach students the proper handling and safe storage of firearms. It also asks them to determine the earliest grade to begin the course.
In March, Utah’s governor passed a similar law that requires K-12 students to receive firearm safety instruction at least three times in elementary school, once in middle school and once in high school.
And in Tennessee, another bill that would require schools to teach students lessons about gun safety every year starting with the earliest appropriate grade was signed by the governor in late April. The law also requires instruction to be “viewpoint neutral on political topics.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Mandatory gun safety training in schools law tabled in NH.