Missouri first-graders would have to take a gun safety course under a bill being considered by a state Senate committee.

Sen. Dan Brown, a Rolla Republican, outlined his proposal Tuesday before the General Laws Committee, which did not vote on it.

The bill would mandate the teaching of the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program in every first-grade classroom. It also would require teachers to take eight hours of training on responding to an armed intruder.

"I hate mandates as much as anyone, but some concerns and conditions rise to the level of needing a mandate," said Brown, who filed the bill on Dec. 13, one day before the Connecticut school shooting that killed 26 people.

Senators watched a brief segment of the training video, which featured a cartoon eagle telling children to step away from an unsecured gun and immediately report it to an adult.