Given the yearly ramping-up of anti-gun rhetoric in the media during the week leading up to the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits, it was refreshing to see an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution yesterday acknowledging the work NRA does to promote safety.
Penned by Leslie Deets—owner of SharpShooters USA, an indoor shooting range, retail store and training facility—the article, titled “NRA’s Work Helps Keep Kids Safe Around Guns,” cites CDC data for the last two decades showing that even as gun ownership has risen, gun fatalities among young children have dropped 65 percent. “I credit one program in particular for the record-low number of accidental shootings among children: the National Rifle Association’s Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program,” Deets said.
In the last 30 years, the program—which is nonpartisan and makes no value judgment about firearms—has taught nearly 30 million children what to do if they find a gun. “The message is direct, simple and easy for children to remember. I am convinced these four easy steps have saved countless young lives,” Deets said.
