SAN DIEGO—
A bill mandating self-defense training in California public schools is one step closer to becoming a law.The Senate Local Government Committee passed SB 1290 by a unanimous vote of 8-0. The bill could be official by the end of the summer.
State Sen. Christine Kehoe authored the legislation to require self defense and safety awareness training for high school and middle schools students in California. She introduced the bill after San Diego lawyer Pamela Wilson wrote commentary in the San Diego Union-Tribune following the deaths of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois. Wilson advocated requiring students to take self defense classes in school.
"By giving young people training in this self awareness and safety you could go a long way towards preventing these attacks from happening," Wilson said.
Kehoe liked Wilson's idea and spearheaded a campaign to make it the law.
Self defense expert Abe Fuentes, owner of Ultimate Strength training center, says the idea is good, but he doesn't think most physical education teachers are qualified to teach the specialized training.
"That's why there are instructors like me. There is a reason we are sought after, because we know how to train somebody. It's not just reading a book, or manual and being able to teach somebody self defense," Fuentes said.
