Be Safe
brochure (.pdf file)
Be Safe is a story about how one typical
Montana family deals with
firearm safety issues in their home. This story is
designed to be
read to children of ages in first through third grades.
Usually, the presenter will read the story to kids, then
will pass out
a copy of the Be Safe brochure to each child,
and ask them to take it
home and ask a parent to read it to the child and siblings
one more time before the children's bed time. This
helps initiate
a family dialog about gun safety, and helps establish family
standards
for gun safety.
Some parents may say, "But we don't have any guns in our
home."
Fine, but nearly all children will sometimes play at a
friend's or
neighbor's home. We estimate that about 90% of the
homes in
Montana contain firearms. We want all children to
understand the
first principle about gun safety for kids - don't
touch. If
children should come into association with a firearm,
anywhere, they
will need the inoculation of some firearm safety
preparation, just like
water safety, fire safety, or traffic safety.
No copyright. MSSA has specifically abstained from any
copyright
protection for this material. MSSA considers it to be
in the
public domain and available to anyone to reproduce. We
do ask
that you maintain all original content.
Printing. This is just one sheet of 8 1/2" X 11"
paper, printed
both sides and folded once. Most local sporting goods
stores and
some other businesses will be pleased to have copies of this
printed
for the children you wish to reach, especially if the
business can have
its name on the piece. On the cover page is a line
"Printed
courtesy of SPORTSMAN'S WAREHOUSE." Just ask your
local printer
to white out or cover "SPORTSMAN'S WAREHOUSE" and place
there the name
of the local business paying for your printing. Hey,
this comes
out of the business's advertising budget, and is probably
both a small
and good ad investment for them.
Color. MSSA always prints Be Safe on
salmon colored paper.
For any questions, email MSSA at:
mssa AT mtssa.org (replace " AT " with @ - done this way to
foil spam bots).
Gary Marbut, president, MSSA
===================================
Supporting
materials
2018 letter from OPI supporting Be Safe (.pdf
file) CLICK
HERE
2003 letter from OPI supporting Be Safe (.pdf
file) CLICK HERE
Senate Joint Resolution 15, 1991, firearm safety in schools
(MSWord file) CLICK HERE
20-7-132, M.C.A. encouraging firearm safety instruction in
schools (MSWord file) CLICK HERE
Senate Joint Resolution 16, 2007 endorsing Be Safe
(.pdf file) CLICK HERE