RALEIGH - Citing additional insurance concerns, Wake County schools staff will wait until August before presenting draft revisions to the district's deadly weapons bans aimed at allowing student marksmanship teams to participate in approved firearms competitions.
In response to the public outcry after an East Wake High School club team was banned from competing in a state-sponsored marksmanship tournament, school board members asked staff to draft a policy to allow teams to compete.
In March, the team at East Wake was barred from competing in the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission Hunter Education Tournament one day before a regional competition.
An area superintendent and an East Wake principal determined the school's 22-year participation in the tournament violated Wake's policy barring firearms and other deadly weapons from school campuses.
The last-minute ban garnered national attention. Several pro-gun groups protested the decision.
School staff members were expected to have a draft policy Tuesday but delayed another month to address requirements brought up by the school system's insurer.
Among the requirements:
* Create a master plan for a shooting range in line with the state's Hunter Safety Program. Students would be required to have supervised practices and competitions.
* Draft safety rules that would be approved by the school system's risk manager.
* Provide hand-washing stations to prevent students from being exposed to too-high levels of lead.
"It's not going to be on somebody's farm," said Ann Majestic, the school board's lawyer.
School board members Lori Millberg and Patti Head said they want the policy in place in time for the new school year.
"We need to be able to do this for this fall," Head said.
I'm thinking that its about time that we not only implement these kinds of programs nationwide, but that we make firearms training education mandatory parts of the curriculum in every school... I am fairly sure that we would see a noticeable drop in violent crime and general irresponsibility if safety, responsibility and values were once again taught in schools... Woops, there I go making sense again, can't have that.
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