This was on the local FOX station. Story was actually about a Sheriff Dept. in Louisiana. The Sheriff there ran a firearms safety/training program for kids with the help of his deputies. They would get kids and parents/guardians to bring their kids and guns - pellet, BB, .22 or shot gun - to the S.O. range and give them the appropriate instruction. Sheriff's statements were NOT edited into sound bites, and they even had a (middle age,black) woman who thought it was a great idea because she wanted to make sure her child knew how to safely use a firearm. The report put NO negative spin on it, but did issue a quote from an anti org about it not being the best way. They did give the Sheriff the last word on gun handling and safety. KUDOS to the Sheriff there.

If the station puts a link to the story up I will add it.

Here's the transcript sent to me via email by FOX.

Robert-- Thanks for your email. That particular story was done by a Fox News
network reporter, not one of our local reporters from Fox 40 News in
Sacramento. Below is a transcript of the story by reporter Alicia Acuna. The
safety progream is going on in Cadido County, Louisiana (the Shreveport
area). This is all the info we have on this story. We hope it helps you.

   KIDS AND GUNS...
       MANY PEOPLE TRY TO KEEP THE TWO OF THEM APART.
       BUT ONE LOUISIANA SHERIFF IS ENCOURAGING CHILDREN TO LEARN ABOUT AND
TO FIRE GUNS...SAYING IT COULD SAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE LONG RUN.
       FOX'S ALICIA ACUNA HAS THE STORY.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
"Have it in your sights before you pull the trigger."

       IN SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA...KIDS AGES EIGHT TO 12 ARE LEARNING TO
FIRE GUNS.

       IT'S PART OF A FREE, ONE-DAY GUN SAFETY CLASS PUT ON BY THE CADDO
PARISH SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT.
       EACH CHILD, ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT,  BRINGS THEIR OWN BB, PELLET
GUN, .22 CALIBER RIFLE OR SHOTGUN.

"WE'RE TRYING TO REACH OUT AND GET THOSE KIDS THAT WERE GIVEN ONE OF THOSE
WEAPONS AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT."

       KIDS WITHOUT A GUN GET A LOANER THE SHERIFF BOUGHT WITH DONATED
FUNDS.

You have to physically push the 22 up in there and close it, ok. ok. It's
real safe.

       THE CHILDREN RECEIVE SAFETY TIPS AND THEN SHOOT GUNS WITH
INSTRUCTION FROM OFFICERS AT THE SHERIFF'S FIRING RANGE.

       ETHEL DAVIS DOESN'T OWN A GUN, BUT WANTED HER 8 YEAR OLD GRANDSON,
WHOM SHE ADOPTED, TO LEARN HOW TO SHOOT ONE.

"WE WANTED HIM TO LEARN THAT GUNS ARE REAL, GUNS ARE NOT TOYS AND WE WANTED
HIM TO BECOME FAMILIAR AND COMFORTABLE WITH A GUN AND LEARN THE CORRECT WAY
TO HANDLE ONE."

       SOME CRITICS SAY THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO TEACH KIDS THIS YOUNG
ABOUT GUN SAFETY THAN PUTTING A WEAPON IN THEIR HANDS.

       OFFICERS ARGUE THAT HANDS-ON TRAINING AT AN EARLY AGE ELIMINATES THE
CURIOSITY FACTOR, AND PREVENTS INJURIES AND DEATHS.

"A CHILD WITHOUT A GUN IS STILL GOING TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH GUNS
THROUGHOUT THEIR LIFE AND THROUGHOUT THEIR TIME AS A CHILD.
I WOULD LIKE FOR THEM TO KNOW HOW TO HANDLE A GUN OR EVEN BE ABLE TO
RECOGNIZE UNSAFE GUN PRACTICES WHEN THEY VISIT A FRIEND."

"IT WAS REAL NEAT (PAUSE) BECAUSE YOU GET TO SEE THE POLICE OFFICERS AND GET
TO SHOOT THE GUNS AND LEARN HOW TO BE SAFE."

       ALICIA ACUNA, FOX NEWS.

Unfortunately, this only seems to happen on FOX.[:(]  Sounds like a great story.  Hope you eventually can get a link from their site.

I think more programs like the aforementioned should be instituted. There would be a whole lot less accidental shootings if more people knew what they were doing. Kudos for the Louisiana Sheriffs department.

"Only" on FOX?!

There's a reason why FOX NEWS is the #1 cable news network now.

They flat-out stomped right over the Clinton News Network and MSNBC last year and never looked back.

The national tide is turning conservative - but you'd never hear THAT from CNN/MSNBC/CBS/ABC/NBC/ That's why their ratings are going down and FOX's are going up.[beer]

[:O] What the hell is going on! Our local Fox news was the worst when I used to watch it (never do now)
I swear once a week on that channel they showed guns getting melted into rebar...

beat me to posting about it, good spot, and good to see it's promoted by the SO too. Now to get programs like that in cities like Seattle, Portland, Denver, etc. not holding my breath....

It's not that they are more conservative, just that they do what they are suppose to be doing in the first place, reporting the news, without the political commentary mixed in together. Advocating a poltiical political position is called the "spin" the news business.

Here is a pretty fair and balanced pie on Concealed carry-notice the quotes from the local SO


[url=http://www.austin360.com/auto_docs/epaper/editions/tuesday/metro_state_3.html ] Austin-American Statesman article, December 21st 2002  [/url]

[b]Williamson's a top pistol-packin' place
Suburbanites, whites lead way in licenses for concealed guns
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS [/b]

Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Williamson County has more concealed-handgun licenses per capita than most other Texas counties, ranking 10th among the 35 most populous counties, according to an analysis by the Houston Chronicle published Sunday.

The analysis of state records shows that many of the areas with the highest frequency of concealed-handgun licenses are relatively peaceful suburbs, a contradiction to the stereotype of rough-and-tumble areas with high gun ownership.

Galveston, Montgomery and Brazoria counties near Houston have the most licensed gun holders per capita among counties with at least 100,000 residents. Smith in East Texas and McLennan near Waco round out the top five. Travis County is 17th.

When smaller counties are added to the mix, Comal has the state's highest rate of concealed-weapon permits, with nearly one of every 12 adults licensed to carry.



Since Texas began allowing residents to obtain licenses to carry concealed handguns in 1995, the Department of Public Safety has issued more than 220,000 permits. The prototypical license holder is a middle-age suburban or rural white man. White men hold 165,000, or 74 percent, of all the licenses, followed by white women with 37,766. Combined, whites, who make up 52 percent of the state's population, have 91 percent of the gun licenses.

Slightly more than one of every 100 adults in Texas can legally carry a concealed pistol. In Williamson County, the ratio is 1.6 permits for every 100 adults for a total of 2,699 permits. Travis County has 5,989 permits or one for every 100 adults. The ratio is three of every 100 adults in Galveston, Montgomery and Brazoria counties.

The relatively low violent crime totals in those areas raises the question of whether guns are making the cities safer or whether they were safe before concealed guns were allowed.

"If you ask a gun owner why they carry, they will tell you it's for protection," said Dave Smith, founder and president of Texans for Gun Safety. "Protection from whom? I'm not quite sure what we're afraid of in our mid- to upper-class neighborhoods."

Kendal Hemphill, a Hill Country outdoors writer, said residents in the safe neighborhoods are not overprotective, but those in more violent neighborhoods are foolishly underprotected.

"A great many American citizens who live in high-crime areas and may actually need to defend themselves don't carry guns, legally or otherwise," Hemphill said. "There seems to be an unreasonable fear of guns among many."

Concealed-gun permit holders have generally followed gun laws. However, in the seven years the permits have been offered, the state has revoked 2,023 licenses because their holders committed certain crimes, such as felony driving while intoxicated. Others used their guns to commit crimes.

That pretty much slants the entire article to the negative. Must have beeb added by the editor (or the editor was successful in removing most of the anti-gun bias).

A truely balanced piece would have pointed out how much lower a rate of crime that number is than the same sample size in the general population.

Not in Indiana. Local Indy stations have been reporting on a shootout involving a AR15 and they did so without one mention of an "assault rifle" or calls for banning any guns!

See here for more info;
[url]www.indystar.com/print/articles/2/012709-6832-092.html[/url]

The problem with that is that CHL holders in Texas have a slightly HIGHER (though probably statistically insignificant) arrest rate that the average adult. It is mostly for minor stuff, like DWIs.

Got a link for that? The last data I saw reflected my original comment. I'd be curious to see what caused the jump.

It was in a DPS report I read several months ago, no link (I guess you will have to take my word for it). The numbers were close enough that it was relatively insignificant. I think it was a 2.7% incidence of arrest for Texas CHL holders and 2.3% for the general population (but don't quote me on that) for the reporting year. There are enough other factors, though, that the numbers really don't mean much. The CHL population contains folks who are most likely to get arrested, based on sheer demographics (not proclivity) becuase it is mostly male between 21 and 50 years old, who are the folks who make up the vast majority of arrests. If the general population figures didn't reflect that (let's say they included women, children, or the elderly), then the numbers would be way off. Like I said, the numbers are close enough that it doesn't matter, and the are are enough potential inconsistiencies that the difference is essentially meanigless.

BTT for the update

Looks like the sherriff gets it.
Kids will come in contact with firearms.  Shooting is fun.  Most of these kids are getting to experience the power first hand.  Not in some detached Hollywood bad guy gets shot and we see him in a new movie a week later style.  Never point the gun at anything you aren't willing to destroy.