NRA Celebrates Halloween by Helping to Teach Firearm Safety in America

Fairfax, Va.— The National Rifle Association, the world’s leading firearm safety organization, will celebrate Halloween by educating children in your community on how to stay safe if they encounter a firearm.  The Halloween GunSafe^® promotion is a partnership with law enforcement agencies, schools and community organizations that teaches children what to do if they encounter a gun: STOP! Don’t touch, Run Away, Tell a Grown-up.  Since 1988,  the Eddie Eagle GunSafe^® Program has reached more than 28 million children in all 50 states with the help of more than 26,000 schools teachers and law enforcement officers.   

“Halloween offers a great opportunity to talk about safety with our children, and the NRA is thrilled that so many communities are using the chance to teach firearm safety,” said Amy Hunter, spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association. “The ‘Trick or Treat with Eddie Eagle and the Wing Team’ promotion is fun, informative, and it saves lives.” 

Agencies that participate in the Halloween GunSafe^® promotion were provided materials to teach gun safety at Halloween community events, including school assemblies, trunk-or-treat, trick-or-treat at the mall, and more. Each participating agency received student workbooks for Pre-K through third grade, student reward stickers, and a new animated DVD starring Eddie Eagle and the Wing Team.

“No other organization in the world does more to promote firearm safety than the National Rifle Association, and the Eddie Eagle program is a prime example of that,” said Hunter. “It was developed in consultation with elementary school teachers, law enforcement officers and child psychologists, and is gives children simple, effective rules to follow should they encounter a firearm in an unsupervised setting.” 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unintentional firearm fatalities among children of the Eddie Eagle program’s targeted age group have declined approximately 65 percent in the last twenty years. Firearm accident prevention programs such as Eddie Eagle are a significant factor in that decline. 

Here’s the Eddie Eagle GunSafe^® video: https://eddieeagle.nra.org 

Additional Information: 

• Firearms are found in approximately 40 percent of all American households.  Even if there are no guns in your own home, there may be guns in the homes of friends that your children visit. To ensure their safety, your children must be trained what to do if they encounter a firearm.

• The Eddie Eagle program has no agenda other than accident prevention -- ensuring that children stay safe should they encounter a gun.  The program never mentions the NRA. Nor does it encourage children to buy guns or to become NRA members.  

For more detailed information on the program in your community, contact NRA public affairs at (703) 267-3820.

Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America's oldest civil rights and sportsmen's group. More than five million members strong, NRA continues to uphold the Second Amendment and advocates enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation's leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the armed services. Be sure to follow the NRA on Facebook at NRA on Facebook and Twitter @NRA.