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Four-year-olds in Texas are being given Winnie-the-Pooh books that teach them how to react to potential school shooters.
The Stay Safe book, given to primary school students in the Dallas area, advises pupils to “run, hide, fight” if a gunman enters their building.
The booklet was created by a law enforcement consulting firm and was sent home to students in their school bags this week.Credit: Twitter
The slogan is used by the FBI to advise those in active shooting situations.
The book, created by a law enforcement consulting firm, was sent home to students in their backpacks on Monday without discussions with either parents or teachers, The Guardian reported.
Featuring the popular children’s bear, the material states that: “If there is danger, let Winnie-the-Pooh and his Crew show you what to do: Run Hide Fight.”
‘Extremely disturbing’
The book is not an official production. It is able to use the characters of Winnie-the-Pooh in its material as they have been in the public domain in the United States since the beginning of 2022.
On one page of the material it reportedly states: “If it is safe to get away, we should RUN like Rabbit instead of stay … If danger is near, do not fear, HIDE like Pooh does until the police appear”.
In a page titled “hide”, the character of Pooh can be seen concealing his head in a pot of honey.
One elementary school teacher told the outlet: “I found it extremely disturbing, and was very uncomfortable with the whole contents of the book”.
The book was sent home to young students on the first anniversary of the mass shooting in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
She added: “It’s a year since Uvalde, and nothing has been done other than this book. That is putting it on the kids.”
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, criticised the material on social media.
“Winnie-the-Pooh is now teaching Texas kids about active shooters because the elected officials do not have the courage to keep our kids safe and pass common sense gun safety laws,” he said.
One page of the book shows the characters of Kanga and baby Roo wearing red boxing gloves, with the words: “If danger finds us, don’t stay, run away. If we can’t get away, we have to fight with all our might.”
The word “fight” is capitalised and in red letters. The following page tells pupils “not to fuss” when the danger has gone, but instead tells them to wait for a teacher or the police to come find them.
At least 199 mass shootings have occurred in the United States so far in 2023, according to the non-profit group Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as any in which four or more people are wounded or killed, not including the shooter.
The state of Texas has some of the loosest gun laws in the United States.
The Telegraph, London
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