Plan to adopt Eddie Eagle program is rejected by governor
By Associated Press, 12/30/1999 17:28
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) A bill to make the state run a new program to deter children from playing with guns was vetoed Thursday by Gov. George Pataki.

The governor said the idea of keeping firearms away from elementary school kids is laudable, but he called the legislation ”fundamentally flawed.”

The state Department of Environmental Conservation would have had primary responsibility for implementing the program, even though it has few professionals expert in ”gun avoidance,” according to the governor. The department’s programs about the safe handling of hunting firearms are run by volunteers, Pataki said.

In addition, the governor said the legislation didn’t provide any extra money to pay for the gun education program.

The legislation attracted opposition because it called for the state to use the ”Eddie Eagle” gun safety curriculum developed by the National Rifle Association. Critics said that campaign looks benign enough it urges youngsters coming upon a gun to ”STOP! Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult” but that it actually instills in children the idea that guns are an acceptable and typical aspect of family life.

In addition, the Eddie Eagle curriculum isn’t effective, contended state Sen. Eric Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat.

”After all of the senseless, tragic school shootings that have shaken our nation in recent months and years, the last thing we needed was the NRA in our classrooms,” Schneiderman said.

The governor also said the bill is not needed to effect gun safety in New York schools. He said local police officers are already teaching personal and gun safety in elementary schools throughout the state