Blast off

The announcement last month that the National Rifle Association plans to open a shooting sports theme store and restaurant in Times Square raises some interesting questions.

NRASports Blast would feature a virtual reality shooting gallery, NRA merchandise and other sporting gear, apparently to appeal to the average American family.

"More Americans participate in shooting sports than in basketball, hockey, baseball, soccer any other sports," ABC news quoted NRA vice president Wayne LaPierre as stating at a May 19 press conference announcing the restaurant.

The press conference coincided with the NRA's national convention held in Charlotte, NC, in late-May. The Arlington, Virginia-based group boasts a membership of nearly 4 million, with a claimed increase of 200,000 members in the last two months.

There have been the usual responses to the announcement. Most expressed shock that the NRA would open a shooting gallery -- never mind it only plans to use "virtual" guns -- in the middle of Times Square, which is just overcoming its reputation as the porn and violence "fun district" of New York. And, coming on the heels of the Million Moms March in Washington on May 14, which called attention to the over 30,000 annual gun deaths in America, certainly took some of the "fun" out of the NRA's stated "family fun" theme park idea of NRASports Blast.

Personally, I have my doubts about a shooting theme restaurant being a place to take the family on a weekend. I still think a baseball game or soccer match, which teach cooperative group effort and good sportsmanship is a better place to spend quality family time.

But that aside, let's look at the NRA's often stated claim that gun safety and education are the key to reduced gun injuries and fatalities.

True, gun deaths are on the decline in this country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said gun deaths are down 21% from an all-time high of over 39,000 in 1993 to 32,436 in 1997. Why?

No doubt, gun ownership supporters would say it's education. However, 1993 was also the year that police started preventive measures against gun violence, such as gun buy backs, says University of Penn. criminologist Lawrence Sherman. Also, Americans have been increasingly concerned about safety measures such as gun trigger locks. Reuters quoted a recent survey by UCLA that said 87.9% of Americans favor making guns childproof.

The NRA's argument is that this is a cultural war, a war "to eliminate the entire culture of hunting, shooting and wildlife conservation" in this country, according to James Jay Baker, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. Last June, Baker spoke to outdoor writers and says the gun control issue is "about the children -- it's about driving them away from the outdoor life that we cherish so deeply, by filling suburban society with a deep and pervading suspicion of all the outdoor traditions that we have enjoyed since we landed on this continent."

The NRA believes that with gun safety education and with a war on criminals, not guns, this country can be made safe, without infringing on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Now, my dad was an avid hunter. And I agree that gun and hunter safety courses and gun-siting clinics and target practice are a good thing wherever hunting of any sort is allowed.

But the argument that education will be enough to bring safe use of gun reminds me of the decades-old argument that sex education will be enough to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

The sexual freedom revolution started with The Pill in the sixties. Sex education classes quickly followed -- and the theme of responsible sex (i.e., condoms and contraceptives, not abstinence) was taught. I was in school during that time and I remember the sex classes -- and the kids who "fooled around." By 1973, there were 916,630 pregnant teens. In 1991, teen pregnancy reached an all-time high of 116.5 pregnancies per 1,000 girls aged 15-19, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Since then, it has been declining. First, part of that drop was due to abortions. But today, teen pregnancies really are down. As are rates for some STDs. However, though, chlamydia (which can lead to infertility) and human papillomavirus (which can lead to cervical cancer) are on the rise among teens.

Is the drop due to sex education and contraception? Or abortion? Not according to statistics. Teen abortions are down, too. So is teen contraceptive use.

No, what's up is abstinence. More and more teens are learning the value of virginity. According to The Medical Institute in Austin, Tex., the number of teens who are sexually active dropped below 50% in 1997, the first such drop in decades. And the True Love Waits campaign, started in 1993, has over one million young people who have signed virginity pledge cards. Just saying no to sex is what reduces the rates of teen pregnancies, abortion and STDs.

Teens and young adults are getting the message that the only safe sex is no sex outside marriage. And learning that, not just learning how to use all the parts, is what young people needed to hear.

I think it's the same with guns. If we don't want kids shooting each other, as an honor student is accused of doing in Lake Worth, Florida, at the end of May, the issue isn't about teaching them how to use guns safely: it's about teaching them when to say "No" to using guns - especially handguns, since most killings are not done with deer hunting rifles or shotguns. (By the way, the Florida youth used a handgun that was said to belong to his grandfather.)

Hunting safety is one thing. Glorifying guns as just plain old family fun is quite another.