Gun safety video fuels controversy
NRA calls local efforts anti-gun, touts own cartoon
By Kara Richardson
Lansing State Journal
It's Scotty the Skateboard versus Eddie Eagle in a duel over gun safety.
A National Rifle Association magazine editor called the Michigan Education Association and Lansing police "anti-gun" for their gun safety video called "Scotty the Skateboard."
"Shame on the MEA for such blatant anti-gun hypocrisy as to not take some gun safety assistance from the oldest, most respected firearms association in the nation!" Mark Chesnut wrote in the current edition of "America's 1st Freedom," sent to about 625,000 NRA members.
Chesnut's article was in response to MEA spokeswoman Karen Schulz's comments about a video for children featuring Eddie Eagle. The NRA created it 15 years ago.
Lansing police and the state teachers union created a tape with Scotty the Skateboard because some Michigan educators felt uncomfortable using the Eddie Eagle tape because of its "controversial NRA connection," Schulz said.
Chesnut said he felt Schulz was "taking a swipe at the NRA" with the blanket statement.
"I would bet there are MEA members who are NRA members," Chesnut said. He included Schulz's phone number in the magazine so Michigan gun owners upset about Scotty the Skateboard could call.
So far, Schulz has taken six NRA member calls, she said. They had questions about the project. One ordered a copy of the video.
"The notion that this is an anti-gun video is incorrect," Schulz said.
"Many in law enforcement and education would not use the NRA video - not because of its content - because of its association with the NRA."
In fact, the NRA and the MEA videos are very similar, Schulz said. Both videos instruct children not to touch a gun and to get an adult if they see a gun.
About 20,000 youth 19 and younger are killed or injured by firearms in the United States every year.
Lansing police Capt. Raymond Hall said some people complain the department is pro-gun when it gives away trigger locks.
So he's not surprised some would be upset with Scotty.
"There are extremists on both sides of this issue," Hall said about gun control.
"The Lansing Police Department advocates gun safety. If you choose to have a gun in your home, then we advocate gun locks, proper storage of ammunition and parent involvement in teaching children, who are an appropriate age, a healthy respect for weapons."
It may not matter which video children watch.
Gun safety education for children and adults hasn't yet proven to be effective, said David Hemenway, director of Injury Control Research Center at Harvard University.
That includes everything from videos as simple as Eddie Eagle and Scotty instructing kids not to touch weapons to classes on proper gun storage for adults.
What seems to work better are prevention devices such as trigger locks.
"It should be the adults responsible for making the world safe for children," Hemenway said. "You shouldn't place kids in conditions in which they can become seriously injured by acting as they would normally, by just being curious."
http://www.lsj.com/news/local/030119_nra_1b-2b.html
NRA calls local efforts anti-gun, touts own cartoon
By Kara Richardson
Lansing State Journal
It's Scotty the Skateboard versus Eddie Eagle in a duel over gun safety.
A National Rifle Association magazine editor called the Michigan Education Association and Lansing police "anti-gun" for their gun safety video called "Scotty the Skateboard."
"Shame on the MEA for such blatant anti-gun hypocrisy as to not take some gun safety assistance from the oldest, most respected firearms association in the nation!" Mark Chesnut wrote in the current edition of "America's 1st Freedom," sent to about 625,000 NRA members.
Chesnut's article was in response to MEA spokeswoman Karen Schulz's comments about a video for children featuring Eddie Eagle. The NRA created it 15 years ago.
Lansing police and the state teachers union created a tape with Scotty the Skateboard because some Michigan educators felt uncomfortable using the Eddie Eagle tape because of its "controversial NRA connection," Schulz said.
Chesnut said he felt Schulz was "taking a swipe at the NRA" with the blanket statement.
"I would bet there are MEA members who are NRA members," Chesnut said. He included Schulz's phone number in the magazine so Michigan gun owners upset about Scotty the Skateboard could call.
So far, Schulz has taken six NRA member calls, she said. They had questions about the project. One ordered a copy of the video.
"The notion that this is an anti-gun video is incorrect," Schulz said.
"Many in law enforcement and education would not use the NRA video - not because of its content - because of its association with the NRA."
In fact, the NRA and the MEA videos are very similar, Schulz said. Both videos instruct children not to touch a gun and to get an adult if they see a gun.
About 20,000 youth 19 and younger are killed or injured by firearms in the United States every year.
Lansing police Capt. Raymond Hall said some people complain the department is pro-gun when it gives away trigger locks.
So he's not surprised some would be upset with Scotty.
"There are extremists on both sides of this issue," Hall said about gun control.
"The Lansing Police Department advocates gun safety. If you choose to have a gun in your home, then we advocate gun locks, proper storage of ammunition and parent involvement in teaching children, who are an appropriate age, a healthy respect for weapons."
It may not matter which video children watch.
Gun safety education for children and adults hasn't yet proven to be effective, said David Hemenway, director of Injury Control Research Center at Harvard University.
That includes everything from videos as simple as Eddie Eagle and Scotty instructing kids not to touch weapons to classes on proper gun storage for adults.
What seems to work better are prevention devices such as trigger locks.
"It should be the adults responsible for making the world safe for children," Hemenway said. "You shouldn't place kids in conditions in which they can become seriously injured by acting as they would normally, by just being curious."
http://www.lsj.com/news/local/030119_nra_1b-2b.html
