Texas lawmaker lobbies for 3rd graders to be trained to administer aid for gunshot wounds in the event of a school shooting, says report

• A Texas lawmaker has proposed a bill to ensure school children can administer emergency first aid.
• Senator Barbara Gervin-Hawkins has said third graders should receive this training to save lives. 
• Critics say lessons on bleeding control stations could harm children's mental health.

A Texas lawmaker has proposed a bill to ensure that children as young as eight-years-old receive annual training to man bleeding control stations. 

These stations are emergency first aid resources that can be used in times of tragedy, such as school shootings. 

Senator Barbara Gervin-Hawkins — who has proposed the law — has said that since the mass school shooting at Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde that killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers, children should receive this training to save lives, according to CBS Austin.

Advocates of the proposed law believe it could save lives. The co-founder of Save Austin Now Cleo Petricek, told CBS Austin, "We need to be prepared for mass shootings." 

Licensed counseling psychologist Dr. Christopher Hansen told the news outlet, "We have thousands of veterans, first responders, doctors, and nurses who do this professionally and are trained to deal with it. Obviously, they come up with a lot of problems, PTSD, anxiety, depressive disorders, etc. Why on earth would we do that to our children?"

He noted that the bleeding stations themselves aren't a bad idea but that it's sad to be discussing recruiting such young children.

"If we've gotten to the point where we need third graders to treat traumatic gunshot wounds on other children, we really need to take a step back," he said.

Gervin-Hawkins said she understands the concerns about young students being exposed to bleeding station training, and it would not be compulsory.

"Students are already very aware of the prevalence of school shootings; giving them the tools necessary to stop the preventable death of a classmate is common sense," Gervin-Hawkins said in a statement, per CBS Austin.

There have been roughly 25 school shootings in 2023 alone, with the killing of six at Covenant School shooting in Nashville seeing the most fatalities.