NCJ Number
196223
Date Published
2002
Length
0 pages
Annotation
In this video presentation, Ms. Heather Miller, who represents firearms manufacturers in their efforts to improve gun safety for students, makes a firearms safety presentation before an assembly of junior high school students; it includes the video presentation (video within a video) of two scenarios, based on actual events, in which youth may find themselves required to make a decision about firearm safety.
Abstract
In one of the videos presented to the student assembly, Ted brings a gun to school in a cloth bag, and he takes it out of the bag to show it to his friends, John and Wendy, in the school cafeteria. Ms. Miller then presents three responses that John and Wendy might make in this situation: Tell Ted to leave the school with the gun; don't handle the gun, but do not report Ted to a school administrator; or report to a school official that Ted has the gun. Ms. Miller tells the assembly that the correct response is to tell Ted to put the gun away, and then report the incident to a school official. Wendy and John are portrayed as going to the school guidance counselor to tell him about Ted having the gun. The counselor immediately phones the office of the principal, who calls Ted into her office to explain the severity of what he has done and the consequences that must follow, including suspension from school and police intervention, because Ted has broken a firearms law. In the second scenario presented to the student assembly on video, Paul is portrayed bringing two friends, Scott and Harris, into his parents bedroom to show them his father's gun, which is kept in a chest but is unlocked and accessible. Paul takes the gun into his hand and begins simulating its firing, assuring his friends that the clip has no bullets. Scott says he doesn't like being around guns, and he makes an excuse and leaves Paul's home (this is the correct safety response in the scenario). Harris, on the other hand, stays and takes the gun into his hand when Paul offers it to him, again reassuring Harris that the gun is not loaded. As Harris handles the gun, he accidentally pulls the trigger, and a bullet that is still in the gun's chamber fires and wounds Paul in the spine, requiring that he spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. After showing this video, Paul (an actor playing Paul) is introduced by Ms. Miller to the assembly, after which he explains how "stupid" he was to play with his father's gun and set the stage for his being accidentally shot by Harris. Ms. Miller closes this video by reminding the students of the two rules of safety portrayed in the video and then passing out to the assembly a Firearms Safety Pledge for each of the students to read and sign.