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Bill Would Allow Texas Schools To Offer Class On Gun Safety


Texas Rep. James White hopes a new bill he has proposed will help more high school students across the state handle guns properly.

It would give schools the choice to offer a class, taught by a certified concealed handgun license instructor or peace officer, on how safely to use guns like pistols, revolvers and shotguns.

"I think it's a good way for people to be safe with weapons and guns in general," high school student Gabriel Rivera says.

Rivera is a senior at MacArthur High School in San Antonio. He says the class could stop tragedies like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

But should guns be in the hands of students some of who are barely teenagers? Peggy Weyel says yes. She runs a hunter education program for children as young as nine.

"I've hunted with several of the grandchildren of the people have been on leases with and those kiddos are some the safest hunters I've ever seen," she says.

But she knows that even with all the training in the world you can't control what people do once that training ends.

"We can verify and certify that they have received the proper instruction, the skills knowledge and hopefully an attitude, a positive attitude but we cannot guarantee that they're going to practice that once they leave the classroom. We can only hope," Weyel says.

Federal law states customers must be at least 18 years old to buy a handgun. In Texas, one must be at least 21 to own a handgun, although rifles and shotguns are legal for 18-year-olds.

Read the bill.