BILL NUMBER:S7129

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the education law, in relation to requiring instruction in
anti-gun violence in all schools

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Requires all schools to include age
appropriate instruction on anti-gun violence as part of the education
curriculum provided in regular classrooms.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
The education law is amended by adding
a new section 805 to read as anti-gun violence education.

Subsection 1 provides that all schools include age appropriate
instruction on anti-gun violence as an integral part of the education
provided by regular classroom teachers.

Subsection 2 provides that the commissioner shall provide necessary rules
and regulations on the instruction on anti-gun violence regarding the
health and welfare of pupils and the community. The contents will not
be uniform throughout the state; they will vary to meet the needs of
particular school districts. The school districts will either utilize
the commissioner's curriculum on anti-gun violence or establish a
              

course approved by the commissioner.

Subsection 3 provides that school authorities shall provide needed
facilities, time, place, learning aids and curriculum resource
materials which contribute to the effective teaching methods and
learning in anti-gun violence.

JUSTIFICATION:
Nationwide firearms are the second leading cause of
traumatic death related to a consumer product in the United States
and are the second most frequent cause of death overall for Americans
ages 15 to 24. Eight young people are killed by gun violence on an
average day in the United States and in the New York City
Metropolitan area, since the New York City police Department's
1-866-GUN-STOP program inception in 2001; it has made nearly 5,000
arrests and recovered over 2,700 guns.

Gun violence plagues many communities throughout the Empire State with
fatal shootings often grabbing local headlines and garnering national
attention. For example, in a story headlined "Neighborhood rallies
for peace a.s murders in Morris Heights area up 78 percent this year,
crime up, too" that ran-in the New York Daily News on October 11,
2011, it was
reported that in the 46th precinct of the Borough of the Bronx alone,
the murder rate went up nearly 78 percent in the prior year with 16

victims as of October 9, 2011 compared to the nine in the same period
in 2010. Overall crime in the precinct was up just 5 percent.

This legislation would address this pressing issue by requiring all
schools to include age appropriate anti-gun violence instruction as
part of classroom curriculum where students will gain a better
understanding of the impact of gun violence on their community and
implement strategies in reducing the issue.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July after
enactment.