I would change the title to “Poles Learned a Lesson From Their Own Playbook”.
My parents were Holocaust survivors from Poland. The Poles disarmed Jews and enabled their mass extermination of virtually the entire Jewish population of Poland. Poland’s firearms training today reflects a bitter lesson learned from its own actions: disarming a population has consequences.
“The Nicolaus Copernicus School in in Skarszewy, Poland, is a normal primary school with students from the 1st to the 8th grade,” a mid-December “Focus on Europe” video report by Axel Rowohlt from German Public Broadcast Service DW News documents . “Weaponry class is now mandatory in Polish schools and could soon become a favorite,” he elaborates. While the 13-to-14-year-olds students “don’t use live ammunition but lasers,” they enthusiastically embrace the training as “fun” and “really cool,” and “18,000 schools across the country will get the equipment as part of their safety training,” the report explains.
Unlike in the land of the Second Amendment, where gun prohibitionists who demand avoidance and ignorance label themselves as “commonsense gun safety advocates,” the training is embraced by educators, politicians and parents. In a way, it’s reminiscent of an earlier time in this country, in the days before “mass shootings,” when school rifle teams and training were not uncommon, including in urban areas like Chicago.
“With the state of the world today, I think this training is very valuable” the school’s principal elaborated, referencing Russia’s invasion of “next door” Ukraine and the threat felt by Poland. “They’re not too young to shoot because the passion for shooting like any sport develops from an early age,” the Mayor of Skarszewy echoes.
By David Codrea
