Missouri bill would require gun safety course in first grade

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri first-graders would have to take a gun safety course under a bill being considered by a state Senate committee.

Sen. Dan Brown, a Republican from Rolla, outlined his proposal Tuesday for the chamber's General Laws Committee. No one spoke in opposition, and the committee did not vote on it.

The bill would mandate the teaching of the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program in every first-grade classroom. Brown says it would teach young children what to do if they come across an unsecured weapon.

The bill would also require teachers to attend eight hours of training on responding to an armed intruder inside a school.

Brown filed the measure Dec. 13, one day before the Connecticut school shooting that killed 26 people.