Firearm safety instruction would be required in public schools under new bill

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that would require schools to teach about firearm safety will be proposed during this year’s legislative session.

H.B. 104 would require the state school board to create a curriculum and standards for firearm safety instruction. Then, public schools in each district would be required to find a way to present that safety instruction to students.

“It’s going to be developmentally appropriate depending on their age,” said bill sponsor Rep. Rex Shipp. “Certainly it’s going be much different for first graders versus ninth graders and so forth.”

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For grades K-6, safety instruction would be required every year. For middle and high schools, instruction must be given at least once to students while attending the schools.

Each school would have the flexibility to decide how to present the information.

“This could be part of their physical education curriculum, suicide prevention instruction. . . It could be taught by a school resource officer,” Shipp said. “There’s a lot of flexibility with it.”

The idea behind this bill is to help increase knowledge about firearms to decrease accidental shootings.

Shipp said he wants parents to know this is not a political move. It’s simply to help increase knowledge and reduce accidents.

“This is not anti-gun or pro-gun. It’s safety. Safety instruction,” Shipp said.

Parents would have the ability to opt their children out of receiving the instruction.

If passed, the bill would go into effect on July 1, 2025.

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