Elementary school holds gun buy back?
Posted by: Jon on 06/08/2013 08:51 AM
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I saw this and thought wow, what a crazy thing to do, then I re-read the headline and it is actually even crazier than I first thought.
Strobridge Elementary Principal Charles Hill maintains that children who play with toy guns may not take real guns seriously.
"Playing with toys guns, saying 'I'm going to shoot you,' desensitizes them, so as they get older, it's easier for them to use a real gun," Hill said.
At Saturday's event, called Strobridge Elementary Safety Day, a Hayward police officer will demonstrate bicycle and gun safety, and the Alameda County Fire Department is sending a rig and crew to talk about fire safety.
Fingerprinting and photographing of children will be offered, with the information put on CDs for parents to use, if needed, in a missing child case. All youngsters attending will be given a ticket to exchange for a book, Hill said.
Every child who brings a toy gun will get a raffle ticket to win one of four bicycles, Hill said.
But not everybody is convinced that the buyback is a good idea, according to the Opposing Views. “Having a group of children playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians is a normal part of growing up," said Yih-Chau Chang of the pro-gun group Responsible Citizens of California. "While the intentions are obviously good on the part of the school administration, this doesn't really educate children about guns or gun safety. Guns are used in crimes, but they are more often used in defensive ways which prevent violent crime from occurring in the first place."
Soon they will not want to you to ride a bike, because it might lead up to you becoming an outlaw biker, or even better; no computer time because that will surely lead to you becoming an Anonymous hacker. Right?
Strobridge Elementary Principal Charles Hill maintains that children who play with toy guns may not take real guns seriously.
"Playing with toys guns, saying 'I'm going to shoot you,' desensitizes them, so as they get older, it's easier for them to use a real gun," Hill said.
At Saturday's event, called Strobridge Elementary Safety Day, a Hayward police officer will demonstrate bicycle and gun safety, and the Alameda County Fire Department is sending a rig and crew to talk about fire safety.
Fingerprinting and photographing of children will be offered, with the information put on CDs for parents to use, if needed, in a missing child case. All youngsters attending will be given a ticket to exchange for a book, Hill said.
Every child who brings a toy gun will get a raffle ticket to win one of four bicycles, Hill said.
But not everybody is convinced that the buyback is a good idea, according to the Opposing Views. “Having a group of children playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians is a normal part of growing up," said Yih-Chau Chang of the pro-gun group Responsible Citizens of California. "While the intentions are obviously good on the part of the school administration, this doesn't really educate children about guns or gun safety. Guns are used in crimes, but they are more often used in defensive ways which prevent violent crime from occurring in the first place."
Soon they will not want to you to ride a bike, because it might lead up to you becoming an outlaw biker, or even better; no computer time because that will surely lead to you becoming an Anonymous hacker. Right?
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