Bill > SB1424

This bill mandates that beginning in the 2027-2028 school year, all Arizona public schools and charter schools must provide annual, age-appropriate firearm safety awareness instruction to students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, focusing solely on accident prevention and personal safety. This instruction must cover safe firearm storage, what to do if a student finds a firearm (emphasizing not to touch it and to tell an adult), and age-appropriate discussions about the risks of unsafe handling or unauthorized access, while explicitly prohibiting the use of live firearms, ammunition, or any demonstrations involving handling or firing a weapon, and forbidding any training in firearm use, moral judgments on gun ownership, or inquiries into whether students or their families own firearms. Schools can deliver this instruction through various methods, including classroom lessons, assemblies, approved videos, or integration into existing health or safety curricula, and the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Public Safety and the Arizona Game and Fish Department, will develop and provide fact-based, neutral, and developmentally appropriate instructional materials designed to promote injury prevention, with all learning materials made available for parental review. Importantly, this section does not regulate firearm possession or use, nor does it allow for the collection of student information related to firearms.