Eddie Eagle

Last updated
The cover art for the Eddie Eagle Kids' Activity Booklet, Pre-K and Kindergarten edition. Eddie Eagle cover.jpg
The cover art for the Eddie Eagle Kids' Activity Booklet, Pre-K and Kindergarten edition.

The Eddie Eagle GunSafe program and its namesake character were developed in 1988 by the National Rifle Association of America for children who are generally considered too young to be allowed to handle firearms. The Eddie Eagle program is intended for children of any age from pre-school through fourth grade.

Contents

The programme has been criticised as a lobbying tool used to reframe the discussion on firearms in domestic settings, placing the focus on children. [1] It has been presented as an alternative to the safe storage and security of firearms. [2] [3] [4]

Effectiveness

In 2001, paediatrician Geoffrey Jackman observed that although the Eddie Eagle program "has been promoted heavily, it never has been evaluated formally to prove that it works. If gun safety education gives parents a sense of complacency without fundamentally altering child behavior, then it might do more harm than good." [5]

The NRA reports several examples of program successes in which children who were in live situations where a gun was found lying around did exactly as the program instructed them to. [6] They say that a decline in accidental gun deaths dating from the 1980s is due to the program, a claim that is contested by safety experts. [7]

In contrast, a 2002 study conducted by North Dakota State University concluded the program was not effective at keeping children safe. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of gun training programs on preschool children. It examined the three main targets of the program: teaching children a safety message; how to react to a firearm in a controlled setting; and how to react in a real-world situation. The study found that although the Eddie Eagle program was effective at teaching children the safety message (5 out of 11), only 1 out of 11 was able to react correctly to the role play situation, and none of the students were able to react properly in a real-life situation. [8]

Training program

The program, administered in schools by trained law enforcement officers assisted by a volunteer, teaches children a litany to follow should they encounter a firearm: "Stop! Don't touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!" [9] Instructional materials, including workbooks and videos, can be downloaded at no cost via the Eddie Eagle webpage. [10] The Eddie Eagle mascot costume cost $2800 in 2015. [11]

The NRA encourages parents and other adults to reach out to schools and inform them of the availability of the program. [12] The NRA provides classroom materials for schools and other non-profit institutions free of charge. [13]

Origins and impact

Marion Hammer, at the time a lobbyist for the NRA, developed this program in 1988. [10] According to the NRA, "with a firearm present in about half of all American households, young children should learn that firearms are not toys." [14] Hammer won a National Safety Council's Outstanding Community Service Award in 1993 for her work on the program. [15]

In 2004, New York Times "Personal Health" columnist Jane Brody wrote that the NRA underwrote the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program "in part hoping to avert more stringent gun control laws." [16]

As of 1997, the NRA says it reached 10 million children, [10] and by 2015 it said that the number had grown to 28 million. [11] The program has been mandated for schools in North Carolina and Oregon, and is used in individual school districts across the country. [10]

In 2015, the program was revamped by Tulsa, Oklahoma, advertising agency Ackerman McQueen. [2] The agency has won several local ADDY Awards for its work on the campaign. [17]

Media coverage

In 1999 the ABC News program 20/20 did a feature on Eddie Eagle which was highly critical of the program. [18] This feature stated that it did not work to simply "Tell [very young] kids what to do" and expect them to follow those instructions implicitly. The producers had a group of schoolchildren (aged 3 to 10 years old) watch the Eddie Eagle video along with a presentation by a police officer on gun safety. While the children all appeared to understand the message that guns are not toys, when the children were left alone with prop guns (and a hidden camera capturing their reactions), they all proceeded to use them as if they were toys. 20/20 collaborated with Hardy[ who? ] to recreate her 2002 study featured aired in 2014 reporting results similar to the 1999 feature. [19]

Samantha Bee on her show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee , in a segment accusing the NRA of hypocrisy, contrasted an unsuccessful attempt to acquire an Eddie Eagle costume, noting an 18-page application and 20 day review period, while successfully purchasing several firearms without a background check. [20] [21] [22] In response to the segment the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action noted that the Eddie Eagle mascot is trademarked, to be used "ONLY for the purpose of firearm accident prevention" and subject to private property rights vs. 2nd Amendment rights. [23]

Criticism

Some parents have objected to the program because it assumes there will be guns lying around and makes people comfortable with guns, or because it contradicts their own teachings. [24]

It has been described as a Trojan Horse programme, designed "as a way to deter lawmakers from passing Child Access Prevention (CAP) Laws, which criminalize keeping firearms easily within reach of children". [25]

Advocates of safe storage laws intended to protect children from unsupervised access to firearms, such as the proposed "MaKayla's Law" in Tennessee, complain that the NRA opposes their efforts and promotes Eddie Eagle instead. [3] [26] An early childhood education specialist who helped revamp the Eddie Eagle program in 2015, denies that it should be treated as a replacement for safe storage laws. "No one ever told me that's how the program was going to be used. If they had, I assure you I wouldn't have had anything to do with it. That's giving way too much significance to the lesson." [3] [2] [4] [25] Despite this, the NRA has presented Eddie Eagle as an alternative solution when campaigning against secure storage requirements. [27]

The Economist says that the program treats children as the problem rather than guns. It says the NRA sends a mixed message, noting that the organization encourages gun use by children as young as seven or eight years old in its magazine InSights. [14]

The American Academy of Pediatrics has maintained a critical position on the program since 1992 noting a lack of evidence demonstrating efficacy and advocating an absence of guns from children's homes as a more effective alternative. [28] [29] [30]

The gun control advocacy organizations Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Violence Policy Center are critical of the program and its efficacy. [31] [32]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun safety</span> Study and practice of safe operation of firearms

Gun safety is the study and practice of using, transporting, storing and disposing of firearms and ammunition, including the training of gun users, the design of weapons, and formal and informal regulation of gun production, distribution, and usage, for the purpose of avoiding unintentional injury, illness, or death. This includes mishaps like accidental discharge, negligent discharge, and firearm malfunctions, as well as secondary risks like hearing loss, lead poisoning from bullets, and pollution from other hazardous materials in propellants and cartridges. There were 47,000 unintentional firearm deaths worldwide in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Rifle Association</span> American nonprofit organization

The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while continuing to teach firearm safety and competency. The organization also publishes several magazines and sponsors competitive marksmanship events. According to the NRA, it had nearly 5 million members as of December 2018, though that figure has not been independently confirmed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assault weapon</span> Terminology used in United States firearm legislation

In the United States, assault weapon is a controversial term applied to different kinds of firearms. There is no clear, consistent definition. It can include semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magazine, a pistol grip, and sometimes other features, such as a vertical forward grip, flash suppressor, or barrel shroud. Certain firearms are specified by name in some laws that restrict assault weapons. When the now-defunct Federal Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice said, "In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use." The commonly used definitions of assault weapons are under frequent debate, and have changed over time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun politics in the United States</span> Political concern

Gun politics is defined in the United States by two primary opposing ideologies concerning the private ownership of firearms. Those who advocate for gun control support increasingly restrictive regulation of gun ownership; those who advocate for gun rights oppose increased restriction, or support the liberalization of gun ownership. These groups typically disagree on the interpretation of the text, history and tradition of the laws and judicial opinions concerning gun ownership in the United States and the meaning of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. American gun politics involves these groups' further disagreement concerning the role of firearms in public safety, the studied effects of ownership of firearms on public health and safety, and the role of guns in national and state crime.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States. It is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C. The AAP has published hundreds of policy statements, ranging from advocacy issues to practice recommendations.

Gun laws in the United States regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition. State laws vary considerably, and are independent of existing federal firearms laws, although they are sometimes broader or more limited in scope than the federal laws.

A smart gun, also called a smart-gun, or smartgun, is a firearm that can detect its authorized user(s) or something that is normally only possessed by its authorized user(s). The term is also used in science fiction to refer to various types of semi-automatic firearms.

The Violence Policy Center (VPC) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun show loophole</span> US political term for sale of firearms by private sellers

Gun show loophole is a political term in the United States referring to the sale of firearms by private sellers, including those done at gun shows, that do not require the seller to conduct a federal background check of the buyer. This is also called the private sale exemption. Under U.S. federal law, any person may sell a firearm to a federally unlicensed resident of the state where they reside, as long as they do not know or have reasonable cause to believe that the person is prohibited from receiving or possessing firearms.

Marion P. Hammer is an American gun advocate and lobbyist who was the first female president of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), from 1995 to 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun violence in the United States</span> Phenomenon of gun violence in the United States

Gun violence is a term of political, economic and sociological interest referring to the tens of thousands of annual firearms-related deaths and injuries occurring in the United States. In 2022, up to 100 daily fatalities and hundreds of daily injuries were attributable to gun violence in the United States. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics reported 38,390 deaths by firearm, of which 24,432 were suicides. The national rate of firearm deaths rose from 10.3 people for every 100,000 in 1999 to 11.9 people per 100,000 in 2018, equating to over 109 daily deaths. In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicides, and 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the U.S. In 2010, 358 murders were reported involving a rifle while 6,009 were reported involving a handgun; another 1,939 were reported with an unspecified type of firearm. In 2011, a total of 478,400 fatal and nonfatal violent crimes were committed with a firearm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everytown for Gun Safety</span> United States gun control advocacy organization

Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was formed in 2013 due to a merger between Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun laws in Nevada</span> Nevadas gun law

Gun laws in Nevada regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the state of Nevada in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety</span> Law in Connecticut, U.S.

An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety, also known as Public Law 13-3 or Connecticut Senate Bill No. 1160, is a bill concerning gun laws in Connecticut. The legislation was introduced by Senator Donald Williams in the state senate and by House Speaker Brendan Sharkey in the state House of Representatives. It was cosponsored by Rep. Ezequiel Santiago, Rep. Matthew Ritter, Rep. Matthew Lesser, Rep. Larry B. Butler, Rep. Auden Grogins, Rep. Patricia A. Dillon, Rep. Catherine F. Abercrombie, and Senator Andres Ayala. The bi-partisan bill passed the Senate by a vote of 26 to 10 and the House of Representatives by a vote of 105-44 on April 3, 2013.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, multiple gun laws were proposed in the United States at the federal and state levels. The shooting renewed debate about gun control. The debates focused on requiring background checks on all firearm sales, and on passing new and expanded assault weapon and high-capacity magazine bans.

Fred Rivara is a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Washington at Seattle Children's Hospital known for his research into the relationship between gun ownership and gun violence in the 1990s. Rivara has also researched bicycle helmets, intimate partner violence, and alcohol abuse, among other topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Trace (website)</span> American journalism outlet

The Trace is an American non-profit journalism outlet devoted to gun-related news in the United States. It was established in 2015 with seed money from the largest gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, which was founded by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, and went live on 19 June of that year. The site's editor in chief is Tali Woodward, and it shares its president, John Feinblatt, with Everytown for Gun Safety.

The Dickey Amendment is a provision first inserted as a rider into the 1997 omnibus spending bill of the United States federal government that mandated that "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be used to advocate or promote gun control." In the same spending bill, Congress earmarked $2.6 million from the CDC's budget, the exact amount that had previously been allocated to the agency for firearms research the previous year, for traumatic brain injury-related research.

A child access prevention law makes it illegal for an adult to keep a gun in a place and manner so that a child can easily access and fire it. Proponents of these laws, such as the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in the United States, argue that they are effective at reducing accidental gun deaths among children, since they reduce accessibility and thereby risk. The National Rifle Association of America has lobbied against such laws, arguing that they are ineffective and infringe on the rights of gun owners to protect their homes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bipartisan Safer Communities Act</span> Legislation of the 117th United States Congress

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a United States federal law, passed during the 117th United States Congress. It implemented several changes to the mental health system, school safety programs, and gun control laws. Gun control laws in the bill include extended background checks for firearm purchasers under the age of 21, clarification of Federal Firearms License requirements, funding for state red flag laws and other crisis intervention programs, further criminalization of arms trafficking and straw purchases, and partial closure of the boyfriend loophole. It was the first federal gun control legislation enacted in 28 years.

References

  1. ↑ Justin Rohrlich (6 August 2021). "The NRA's Gun Safety Program for Kids Has Imploded". Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Spies, Mike (October 13, 2016). "The NRA may be misusing its child gun-safety program". Business Insider . Archived from the original on October 17, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Spies, Mike (October 21, 2016). "When Kids Pull the Trigger, Who is Responsible? Not Gun Owners, the NRA Says". Newsweek.
  4. 1 2 Mike Spies (October 16, 2016). "Academic Who Helped Design the NRA's Child Gun Safety Program Says the Group Is Misusing It". The Trace . Archived from the original on October 16, 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2024. Lisa Monroe says Eddie Eagle was never intended to be a substitute for safe storage laws.
  5. ↑ Jackman, Geoffrey A.; Farah, Mirna M.; Kellermann, Arthur L.; Simon, Harold K. (June 2001). "Seeing Is Believing: What Do Boys Do When They Find a Real Gun?". Pediatrics . 107 (6). American Academy of Pediatrics: 1247–1250. doi:10.1542/peds.107.6.1247. PMID   11389238.
  6. ↑ "NRA Victories: Eighteen Million Safer Kids". NRA Institute for Legislative Action. July 27, 2006. Archived from the original on October 29, 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-15.
  7. ↑ Luo, Michael; McINTIRE, MIKE (September 29, 2013). "Children and Guns: The Hidden Toll" . New York Times . Archived from the original on September 30, 2013.
  8. ↑ Himle, MB; Miltenberger, RG; Gatheridge, BJ; Flessner, CA (January 2004). "An evaluation of two procedures for training skills to prevent gun play in children". Pediatrics. 113 (1 Pt 1): 70–7. doi:10.1542/peds.113.1.70. PMID   14702451.
  9. ↑ "NRA Explore - Eddie Eagle". 2015-05-22. Archived from the original on 2015-05-22.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Bendavid, Naftali (November 20, 1997). "NRA Safety Cartoon Attacked: Gun-control Report Calls Eddie Eagle A Bird Of Prey". Chicago Tribune.
  11. 1 2 Bailey, Henry (June 27, 2015). "Eddie Eagle eager to keep kids safe from guns". The Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Eddie Eagle School Gun Safety Program". 16 March 2015. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program Grant Funding". National Rifle Association of America. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017.
  14. 1 2 "Youth & age: Playing with fire". The Economist. December 23, 2000. pp. 37–39.
  15. ↑ Johnson, Carrie (March 15, 2005). "Famed, decried for work on guns". St. Petersburg Times.
  16. ↑ Brody, Jane E. (August 17, 2004). "Keeping Guns Out of Children's Hands". The New York Times . Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  17. ↑ "26TH ADDY AWARDS". Tulsa World. January 31, 1993.
  18. ↑ "20/20 Show on Gun Safety". ABC News . Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  19. ↑ Sawyer, Diane (January 31, 2014). "What Young Kids Do With Guns When Parents Aren't Around". ABC News . Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  20. ↑ Blistein, Jon (2016-04-12). "Samantha Bee Slams NRA Regulations in Pursuit of Gun Safety Mascot". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  21. ↑ Cooke, Charles (2016-04-12). "Vox and Samantha Bee Ignore Markets in Favor of Gun Propaganda". National Review. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  22. ↑ Wagner, Meg (April 12, 2016). "Samantha Bee proves it's easier to buy a gun than an NRA Eddie Eagle mascot costume". New York Daily News.
  23. ↑ "Samantha Bee's "Epic Takedown"? More Like "Epic Fail"". NRA-ILA. National Rifle Association of America. April 15, 2016. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Oregon picks NRA to teach children about gun safety". Amarillo Globe-News. Associated Press. June 18, 1999.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  25. 1 2 Isha Aran (March 23, 2018). "Meet Eddie Eagle, the NRA's Ineffective Approach to Gun Safety for Children". Splinter News . G/O Media. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2024. Eddie was essentially conceived as a Trojan Horse. The character and program was developed in 1988 by Marion Hammer, the ultra-powerful Florida lobbyist behind a string of infamous gun laws, including the "Stand Your Ground" law. According to the Violence Policy Center—which released a report in 1997 describing Eddie Eagle as "Joe Camel with feathers"—Hammer created the program as a way to deter lawmakers from passing Child Access Prevention (CAP) Laws, which criminalize keeping firearms easily within reach of children.
  26. ↑ "Don't Shoot. Run for Mommy". The New York Times . April 11, 1998. p. 10.
  27. ↑ "Delaware: Anti-Gun Storage Bill to be Heard in Committee". NRA-ILA. June 16, 2015. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2024. If anti-gun legislators were serious about keeping kids safe, they would know that the key to reducing firearm accidents isn't about prosecuting after the fact, it's about educating our children about the safe use of firearms. For that reason, the National Rifle Association developed the Eddie Eagle GunSafe® accident prevention program that teaches children to, "STOP, DON'T TOUCH, RUN AWAY and TELL A GROWN-UP."
  28. ↑ "Firearm Injuries Affecting the Pediatric Population" (PDF). Pediatrics . 89 (4). American Academy of Pediatrics: 788–790. 1992. doi:10.1542/peds.89.4.788. ISSN   0031-4005. S2CID   68822597.
  29. ↑ "Firearm Injuries Affecting the Pediatric Population". Pediatrics . 105 (4). American Academy of Pediatrics: 888–895. April 2000. doi: 10.1542/peds.105.4.888 . ISSN   0031-4005.
  30. ↑ "Firearm-Related Injuries Affecting the Pediatric Population". Pediatrics . 130 (5). American Academy of Pediatrics. November 2012.
  31. ↑ Helmke, Paul (May 11, 2010). "NRA's "Eddie Eagle" Doesn't Fly or Protect". The Huffington Post . Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  32. ↑ Glick, Susan; Sugarmann, Josh (November 19, 1997). Joe Camel with Feathers: How the NRA with Gun and Tobacco Industry Dollars Uses its Eddie Eagle Program to Market Guns to Kids. Violence Policy Center. ISBN   978-0-927291-16-3 . Retrieved December 7, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.