Days after Olathe East shooting, Kansas lawmakers consider NRA gun training in schools
Days after a shooting shook a Johnson County high school, the Kansas State Rifle Association is asking the Legislature to ensure NRA-approved training is the only gun safety program allowed in Kansas schools.
In a hearing Monday, gun-rights advocates urged a Kansas Senate committee to once again pursue legislation requiring the NRA “Eddie Eagle” and “Hunter Education” programs be the only options for schools seeking to provide firearm safety training to students. The program was proven ineffective in a 2004 study from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Advocates called the bill a step toward decreasing accidental shootings when children encounter guns, while simultaneously creating an “opportunity to recruit the next generation of sportsmen and women” who would own guns for hunting and recreation.
Jason Watkins, a lobbyist for the Kansas State Rifle Association, called the bill “common sense.”
Rep. Patrick Penn, a Wichita Republican who has pushed for the bill, referenced cases where children had died after mishandling guns.
“Our fight right now is to protect any other parent from the pain of losing a child over the lack of training,” he said.
But opponents pointed to fear felt just 10 days prior when, according to police, 18-year-old Jaylon Elmore produced a gun when called to the office at Olathe East High School, resulting in a shootout with school resource officer Erik Clark that injured both men and administrator Kaleb Stoppel.
Elmore, a student at the school, was charged with attempted capital murder.
On Monday, Aarushi Pore, a junior at Olathe North High School, asked lawmakers to focus on policies ensuring safe gun storage instead.
“If that situation occurred at East, it could also occur at any other school or my school as well,” Pore said. “Events like these make it clear that now is the time to find better and effective solutions to target gun violence.”
In written testimony Olathe East student Luciana De Anda called for red flag laws and extensive background checks.
“Children do not understand the relationship between guns and death and therefore an Eddie eagle will do nothing, and has done nothing to truly prevent gun violence in this country,” she said.
The Olathe East shooting unfolded within committee chair Sen. Rob Olson’s Senate District. Sen. Cindy Holscher, one of two Democrats on the committee, had a son in the school at the time.
Holscher called the decision to hold the hearing “tone deaf” and said she’d heard from students who wanted to testify but were still struggling to process the shooting at Olathe East.
If passed, the bill would not require school districts to offer a gun training program. But if schools opt to do so, it would have to be based on the NRA program.
The program teaches basic gun safety for children, advising them not to touch firearms and tell an adult if they find one unsupervised. A 2004 study by the American Academy on Pediatrics found that though children remembered and recited the message of the program, it was largely ineffective at influencing behavior when children actually encountered firearms.
Watkins attributed opposition to the program to a “general fear” about guns.
Eddie Eagle, he said, is designed to “teach them that they’re dangerous and here’s what you have to do when you’re exposed to them.”
“It’s about teaching kids that if they see a firearm, they find a firearm, do not touch it,” Watkins said. “We ought to be teaching that to all of our young people on a regular basis.”
Prior to the hearing, Holscher, an Overland Park Democrat, introduced a bill aimed at limiting the use of ghost guns, an illegal firearm built from a kit without a serial number. Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said last week Elmore used a ghost gun in the shooting.
“I think what we’re seeing is that this is a growing area of concern with easy access to these kits, parts being ordered online,” Holscher said. “Obviously these kids are pretty tech savvy.”
In the wake of the shooting, lawmakers have also advanced budget proposals restoring $5 million in school safety and security grants. A House committee voted to allow districts to use those grants on school resource officers as well as physical safety improvements.
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 2:11 PM.
