THERMOPOLIS, Wyoming (PNN) - February 17, 2023 - Fifth graders in Wyoming’s Hot Springs County School District #1 took marksmanship courses in early February using air rifles in a make-shift gun range in their school gym.

The school that hosted the course is located in Thermopolis. The course is three weeks long and students are not required to take it.

The course teaches students how to properly handle a firearm and how to shoot at a distance.

The Hot Springs County District #1 superintendent, Dustin Hunt, and chairman of the school board, Sherman Skelton, released a joint statement explaining the reason for the course.

The school put up a Facebook post with pictures of students lying prone with their air rifles, then removed the post after some people found it “offensive”.

Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Aaron Nab responded to those who took offense at the Facebook post, saying, “Hot Springs County School District made this post on its Facebook page last week and now the post is gone, most likely due to some people being crybabies… I fully support what the district was doing with this. This needs to be going on in schools across Wyoming.”