“No teacher, no janitor, no student knows for a fact that gun isn’t loaded,” Rep. Gary Hebl, D-Sun Prairie, said. “There are so many problems with this.”

Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Mount Horeb, said nothing prohibits students from hiding ammunition in their bags and loading their guns in the school.

“I don’t think this was well-thought out,” Pope said.

Skowronski and the bill’s co-author, Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, said the proposal is designed to help schools’ trap and target shooting teams learn more about guns.

“Ensuring student safety for this rapidly growing sport was the incentive for this bill,” Skowronski told the committee.

Kleefisch said the bill fits into Wisconsin’s heritage of hunting and guns. He added that he’s sure there were people in the crowd who want to smash all guns into a “heap of metal,” but the courses could encourage children to enter the workforce as gun manufacturers, drawing snickers from the crowd.

Georgia Pantzlaff, a 16-year-old member of the Denmark High School trap shooting team, appeared before the committee wearing medals she had won in competitions. She said children have a hard time finding the safety courses they need to get on the team.