Fifth graders in Wyoming’s Hot Springs County School District #1 took marksmanship courses in early February using air rifles in a make-shift gun range in their school gym.
The Miami Herald reports that the school which hosted the course is located in Thermopolis. The course is three weeks long and students are not required to take it.
The course teaches the students how to properly handle a firearm and how to shoot at a distance.
The Hot Springs County District #1 superintendent, Dustin Hunt, and chairman of the school board, Sherman Skelton, released a joint statement to McClatchy News explaining the reason for the course:
One of the many beauties of public education is that locally elected school boards help shape curriculum to match community norms and needs…In Wyoming, the vast majority of households have firearms. It is important for students to safely learn about and respect things they will encounter in their everyday lives.
The Cowboy State Daily notes that the school put up a Facebook post with pictures of students lying prone with their air rifles, then removed the post after some people found it “offensive.”
Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Aaron Nab (R) responded to those who took offense at the Facebook post, saying, “Hot Springs County School District made this post on their Facebook last week and now the post is gone, most likely due to some people being cry babies…I fully support what the District was doing with this. This needs to be going on in schools across Wyoming.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.