Report Title:

Firearm Safety

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the number of unintentional firearms injuries to children nationally has decreased dramatically over the last two decades, primarily due to increased recognition for the need for gun safety, but there are still avoidable, unintentional shootings among children; and

WHEREAS, the Eddie Eagle program has won awards and honors including awards from the United States Senate, National Safety Council, American Legion's National Committee on Education, National School Public Relations Association, Alabama governor, Alaska state legislature, California governor, Delaware legislature, Florida governor and senate, Georgia legislature, Idaho governor and legislature, Indiana governor, Iowa governor, Kansas legislature, Kentucky governor, Louisiana governor, the Maryland House of Delegates, Massachusetts governor, Michigan governor, Mississippi governor, Nebraska governor, Nevada legislature, New Hampshire legislature, New Jersey governor, New Mexico legislature, North Carolina governor and legislature, Ohio governor, Oklahoma governor, Oregon legislature, Pennsylvania governor and legislature, Rhode Island governor, South Carolina governor, Tennessee legislature, Texas legislature, Utah governor, Vermont legislature, Virginia governor, West Virginia legislature, and Wisconsin governor; and

WHEREAS, in today's increasingly urban situation, where firearms are prevalent, firearm safety education is lacking; and

WHEREAS, the Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program has been shown to be an effective method of teaching firearms avoidance behavior to grade-school children; and

WHEREAS, Eddie Eagle is a statewide program for firearms safety for school children provided free by the Hawaii Rifle Association and provides a structured, fundamental, nonjudgmental public safety message for elementary school children, and community agencies and organizations, and the Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition is a nonprofit organization in Hawaii that works to ensure children's safety through community education, advocacy, and policies that protect children; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Health's Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition is requested to convene a working group to evaluate and recommend measures, short of a governmental mandate, to encourage the use of programs such as the Eddie Eagle program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, in conducting its evaluation, is requested to examine innovative measures relied upon in other jurisdictions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition is requested to include in the working group representatives from firearm dealers, organized firearm owner and hunting organizations, parent groups, emergency medical personnel, elementary school teachers, and law enforcement; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Keiki Injury Coalition transmit its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2002; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, the Attorney General, the police chiefs of each county, the prosecutor of each county, and a representative of organizations representing firearm dealers,

firearm owners and hunters, parent groups, and emergency medical personnel.