Whatever happened to the school gun safety program?

[AlanM]

I remember when this came to be and the bizarre parody of the Eddie Eagle program that the VA Board of Education came up with.
See: Virginia school kids to learn about gun safety--opponents of gun safety object

OK, just after typing the above I Googled the VA BOE and then downloaded the .pdf of the Elementary School Gun Safety Guidelines and Curriculum

What a POS!!!!
I, at one time, was an instructor and after my first daughter was born studied the best way to teach youngsters. The Children's Television Workshop was just getting national attention at that time (Sesame Street) and their extensive research showed the fast, short lessons, short catch phrases, names that roll off the tongue, etc. work best.

The Eddie Eagle program and McGruff the Crime Dog have taken those lessons to heart.
Where the hell did the VA BOE find the idiots that designed their program???

Just as an aside before I go on with this rant.
When the Eddie Eagle program first came out I asked for and got a parent's package from the NRA because my second daughter was in the target population at that time. I noticed that NONE of the material had NRA printed on it AT ALL. I believe this was mentioned in the cover letter or somewhere else because the NRA didn't want to be accused of promoting itself to youngsters.
The materials now have NRA trademark and copyright statements on them in the smallest type that they can legally use.
I suspect that this happened when Brady Bunch came out with a children's gun safety program that unabashedly copied the basic text of Eddie Eagle word for word.
ie:

STOP!
DON'T TOUCH!
LEAVE THE AREA!
TELL AN ADULT!

Notice how these rules are short, easy to remember, and easy to say?

Here's the VA BOE version:
See a gun? (Nothing about stopping what they're doing.)
Leave it alone.
Leave the area. (Couldn't screw that up.)
Let an adult know! (That really rolls off the tongue, NOT!)

How about the character name "Eddie Eagle"? It's catchy, short, and easy to say.

VA BOE's equivalent: Finnigan Fox Can anybody how a childish mind could mangle this name with X-rated results?

So, has anybody here had any experience with this program?
If so, any comments?
Are any schools using it?

[OakRidgeStars]

If some group wanted to go into schools and teach children the same exact text, but instead of GUN they used BIBLE, schools across the country would stand and applaud their efforts.

STOP!
DON'T TOUCH!
LEAVE THE AREA!
TELL AN ADULT!

This is where we've come to in this country. The left will not stop until we are all unarmed, uneducated and dependent on our government masters. At least it's still legal to home school. For now.

[FiremanBob]

It was replaced by "zero-tolerance". To the Left, cultivating irrational hysteria and emotionality is much more effective than teaching facts and logic.

[ShotgunBlast]

Opponents want people to have proper training about gun safety but don't want people teaching about gun safety. Therefore in their eyes people shouldn't have guns because they haven't been taught about gun safety at an acceptable level that they create out of thin air, like the rest of their argument.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[ProShooter]

Gov. McDonnell signed the law allowing a BOE to teach gun safety with a program that was supposed to be "substantially similar to the Eddie Eagle program". The state got a bunch of psychologists, teachers, VSP and I think an archery instructor (note - not one firearms instructor in the bunch) together and they wrote the terrible Fox program. No one is using it, as far as I have found in my research.

[OakRidgeStars]

And wouldn't you know it, Bloomberg's first TV ad is about kids finding a gun while playing. This from the same people that fought tooth and nail to prevent kids from being taught gun safety in school.

Now it all starts to make sense.

[PistolPilot]

STOP
TAKE A PICTURE
POST TO INSTAGRAM
TELL THE MEDIA HOW SCARED YOU WERE

[AlanM]

I'm resurrecting this thread and another on the same subject.

It's now been over 10 years since the VA GA told the VA BOE to initiate a gun safety program in our schools.

Does anyone have any statistics on how many children have gone through the Finnigan Fox program?

How much money did the VA BOE waste on it?

As of last year the Eddie Eagle program has reached 32 MILLION children.