Plan for Youths to Learn Gun Skills Draws Heavy Fire
Five 12-year-olds will have to hold their fire because of the uproar over a plan to let them blaze away with .38-caliber revolvers at silhouettes of humans at the police firing range.
Mayor Dana G. Rinehart, who was criticized for his plan to let his son and four other youngsters use the firing range at the police academy, reconsidered and dropped the idea.
Safety Director Larry H. James had ordered police academy officers to train the five boys in the use of a .38-caliber revolver.
The session was scheduled for Thursday night but Rinehart bowed to pressure from other city officials and members of the community who thought it was a bad idea.
Police officers reportedly did not like the plan but had been ordered to cooperate. City Atty. Ron O’Brien recommended against it.
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