Cheryl Todd Testifies In Support Of Keeping Kids Safe Around Guns

"Teaching our children how to be safe is the most common-sense and the least controversial thing any of us could ever do.

From their earliest ages we teach our children how to safely interact with pools of water, busy crosswalks, and kitchen knives. Training children takes away the forbidden curiosity that comes with making items like firearms mysterious and taboo.

It is only when the topic is “firearms” that we suddenly decide that Political Agendas will dictate how well we train our children for safety. And it is inexcusably irresponsible to not empower our children with knowledge for how to be safe around firearms.

AZ HB 2332 does allow for parents to opt out. So, those who want their children to stay uninformed and therefore, less safe, are free to do so. However, when MY children are trained to be safe, it makes YOUR children safer as well. And vice versa, which is why offering this education is not only appropriate, it is invaluable and necessary.

In my own home we make education and training a priority, and my little 3-year old granddaughter, Kinsley, will skip into the kitchen, open the cutlery drawer filled with sharp and pointy forks and knives. She will reach in – go right past all the sharp instruments – grab her favorite pink spoon and head off to eat her ice cream.

No drama. No special laws needed. No legislative hearings. Why? Because Kinsley has been taught what knives are to be used for and what they are not to be used for. HB2332 simply does the same thing for a different tool, firearms.

It is with the strongest voice possible that I support HB2332 and I encourage you to do the same."
Cheryl Todd, AZ State Director to The DC Project and VP of the AzCDL testified before the before the AZ Senate Education Committee on AZ HB 2332 which requires that, beginning July 1, 2024, school districts and charter schools must provide public school students in grades 6 through 12 with one or more training sessions in firearms safety in an age-appropriate manner. School districts and charter schools are required to notify the parents of any student who will receive training at least two weeks before the training is provided and must allow parents to opt the student out of the training.

• Children are naturally curious about many things, including guns. That curiosity should be satisfied in a professional, controlled environment where they can safely learn how to respond to the presence of a firearm.
• Safety classes will be taught by professional instructors and will not involve having children handling firearms at any time.