My wife says my son's not old enough.to shoot..

[ReadyontheRight]

Thanks OneShot! I've been looking at small single-shot 22s for my son and they all seem very chinsey. This Henry looks like the ticket.

My son is 5 and still swings the barrel of his BB gun where he shouldn't, so we'll be waiting a few years.

Eight seems old enough if he's showing responsible gun handling. As someone else said -- the lessons learned that young really stick with you.

Would your wife be more comfortable if you add the ritual of locking up the gun after a shooting and cleaning session? Either in a safe or with a trigger lock.

 

[Logistar]

He's at that age where your word is still gospel and what he learns will stick for life.

That's a VERY important point, Jar.

I got a Mossburg .22 bolt action around age 8.
I (even then) appreciated the fact that my dad would do that for me. He taught me safety first and I have followed his advice to this day. (Although we now constantly disagree on WHICH guns are better! )

I really think Jar made a great point. I wonder if I would have listened to my Dad as well if I had gotten my first gun as a teenager. As an 8 year-old, I listened.

Logistar

 

[gun-fucious]

Aguila Colibri is a great starter round

its BB gun quiet

http://www.aguilaammo.com/supercolibri.htm

 

[Mike Irwin]

My father introduced me to shooting when I was 4 or 5. I can't remember exactly, but I know I was young.

 

[Quartus]

<innocent voice>


So, Mike, was that a flintlock or a percussion cap rifle he started you on?


</innocent voice>

 

[Nightfall]

If he has experience with a BB gun, is safe, and eager for more shooting, I see no excuse not to help him step up to the next level. Moms are always apprehensive, even when they know intellectually that it might be irrational to be so. Maybe include her in the first few times shooting to give her up front proof that nothing has changed.

 

[semf]

It's gonna be hilarious when he goes to school Monday and say's "my dad bought me a gun

Iwas investigated by DCF for this very reason. The teachers and principle didn't think it was right for me to "train my son with weapons"

But I don't think your wife is wrong. She's being a mother. Mine dosn't think I'm old enough to cross the street alone

You're not wrong either. You're being a father. We all want our kids especially our sons to follow somewhat in our footsteps. I believe thats called father son bonding.

 

[Pendragon]

Your son is probably not to young.

However, as much as you need to teach him about guns, you are also teaching him how to treat women and how to be a man.

I would not do it behind my wifes back, that is not something I will teach my son to do. Talk to your wife and try to pin her down on what the issue is - be nice, be gentle, her baby is growing up and a real firearm is a rite of passage or milestone for many boys.

My son is only 21 months, but he is an amazing talker. He walks by my PC and sees the Valtro that is my backgroung - he points at it and says GUN! GUN!. I swear, neither my wife nor I taught him that.

 

[Delmar]

Judging from all these posts, I had a deprived childhood! The old man said-NO BB GUNS - you'll put your eye out or some such. So, the Christmas after my 7th or 8th birthday, he buys me a single shot 20 Gauge. His reasoning was that the pellets don't go quite as far and they can be more versatile than the 22LR. Great memories of that little Savage, and the memories of my father and I going hunting will be with me forever...always with a smile!

 

[Don Galt]

Maybe a compromise?

Well ,you already have the rifle, so why don't you propose to your wife that he be given it for christmas, and be allowed to shoot it with you at the range or whatever, but it lives in the safe otherwise.

Then, after 6 months, maybe he is allowed to shoot it by himself, depending. The gun remains his, it just isn't always availible to him.

This seems like a reasonable compromise to me, and I suspect might answer her core issue.

One of my kin who's just 9 took his first deer this year.

Nothing like my gun free childhood, that's for sure!

 

[swampsniper]

My Daughter started hunting with me when she was so small I carried her in a back pack. When she was about 8, she started to carry an old Stevens Favorite. She had to keep the one cartridge I would give her in her shirt pocket, and the action opened, until we had a squirrel spotted. Only then could she load. Every so often I would tell her, "let me see your cartridge". She knew it better be in her pocket, not the rifle.
My Grandson started with a Daisy when he was six, under supervision. He is 11 now, and shooting a .36 cal percussion rifle I made for his mom. He is allowed to keep everything in his room, except percussion caps.
I am suprised I have not been investigated. He returned to school this year, and talked about learning to use a muzzle loader. His teacher told him it is a forbidden subject at school.

 

[MrKandiyohi]

I'm glad your wife has rethought her decision on whether or not your son can shoot a gun.

She didn't consider that there are two ways to keep a child safe in regards to guns. One is to child-proof every gun, which means that the gun and the child are keep separate from each other. This is a good idea even if you don't have a child in the house. The other way is to gun-proof a child, which means that the gun or the information about guns and the child are put together. This is a great idea even if you don't have a gun in the house.

In your house, you want to both child-proof your guns and gun-proof your child.

 

[Daedalus]

My mother was a crazy anti and my dad was pretty moderate on the subject. I didnt get to shoot at all-not even a bb gun until I was 14. I didn't get to own any firearms of my own until I moved out and mom did not have a say in the matter anymore. I made friends with some kids who happened to be very much interested in all kinds of shooting sports and we made regular trips to the rifle and skeet range throughout high school. The rest, as they say, is history.

I think my parents saw "the light" after years of my responsible acting, and my taking dad out for trips to the range. I think a local home invasion in their neighborhood stopped by an armed neighbor also had something to do with it. My dad even bought a handgun and got his CCW. I guess sometimes the kids have to do the education .

 

[Mike Irwin]

"So, Mike, was that a flintlock or a percussion cap rifle he started you on?"

Whom do I look like, CR Sam?

I'm 38 years old, Quartus.

It was a Remington 521T, with CCI MiniMag ammo. Still have that rifle. It was cold, and spitting snow, just before hunting season, because people were sighting in their rifles. That's one of the reasons why Dad took my brother and me out that day, he wanted to get a couple of shots in to make sure his deer rifle was still on.

It looked like we weren't going to be able to shoot because there were people using the range, and I started to cry because I really wanted to shoot, but the guy using the 50 meter range was a friend of Dad's, and let us skip in.

I remember that day like the back of my hand. I still had some of the shell casings until probably 15 years ago.

 

[Waitone]

So Mom thinks Junior is too young at 6 to learn to shoot guns, eh?

Does Junior watch movies, watch TV, or play video games featuring the use of firearms?

If the answer is "Yes" then Junior is either just fine to learn to use guns safely or he should immediately be prohibited from watching movies, TV or video games. What Mom doesn't realize is Junior is already being educated in firearms. Trouble is . . . . it is all wrong. Now would Mom want Junior to learn firearms properly or incorrectly bearing in mind he will learn about firearms regardless of her attitude toward you teaching him.

6 years of age is the perfect age to teach Junior about firearms. Has Mom done any shooting? Has she gone through safety and shooting training? I sorta doubt it. If Mom is ignorant of firearms use and safety perhaps an approach to take is to involve her in the training or send her to separate training. If she refuses to participate you unfortunately have a rough row to hoe.

Some of the fondest memories Junior will develop will be those of you two shooting together on cold, cold days. Don't let Mom destroy Junior's memories out of her ignorance.

 

[jar]

There's a tale, one I've probably told here before, about my introduction to guns. As I said, my Dad started me off with his 1911 that followed him home from WWII. We went through many evenings of cleaning and gun safety until I could prove that I was ready. The Monday after I shot that gun the first time, he let me take the 1911 to school for show and tell.

I lugged that heavy old gun to school and when my turn came, gave a talk on gun safety while the teacher passed that 1911 around the class. Everybody got to hold it. She was so impressed with the gun safety lesson that she had me give the same talk in several other classes.

By lunch time I was tired of lugging that thing around. I asked her to put it in her drawer where it stayed until time to go home. I can just imagine what kind of reception I would get today.

 

[pax]

OneShot,

Sounds as if you and your wife have a pretty good handle on things now. I'm only posting so that I can show you and her a picture of me working with my sons a couple of years back. My husband and I have five little boys, and this was one of the first times that the younger two had been to the range with me. I think they were 6 and 7 at the time.

Also, see my (way too long) post at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=343673#post343673 -- there are a lot of pretty good posts on this topic in that thread. Just more to think about...

pax

Remember, your basic assignment as a parent is to work yourself out of a job. -- Paul Lewis

 

[MeekandMild]

Tell her Tiger Woods shot a 48 on a nine hole golf course by the time he was two years old.

Tell her it is normal to start out tennis players at age three and Chanda Rubin was 14 when she won a place on the United States Tennis Association national team.

Tell her Kristi Yamaguchi started seriously skating at age seven.

Then again there are late starters. Jose Canseco started playing baseball at age 13.

More info about kids and sports: http://www.onlinesports.com/sportstrust/creative16.html

 

[Stevie-Ray]

If he's already shooting BBs safely, then yes he should be shooting a firearm. I'm of the mind that shooting a firearm comes first so a child learns gun safety and responsibility. Usually there are less "accidents" with the BB gun later, as firearm safety in ingrained.

 

[OneShot]

Well I got around the MOM issue today for good I think....Our son has been away with his Aunt and Uncle this weekend and I talked the wife into taking a ride to look at some Yugo SKS's that were on sale. While we were looking at some really nice examples, She mentioned that although she had two pistols of her own, she didn't have a rifle to go to the range with me and my sons new rifle.

OK I thought, she went from "No way, he's too young , to OK, if you're both going, I'm going too" in the course of one day. Women, amazing, puzzleing creatures, I thought...... I had a nice 22 in mind, but she had other ideas.

Needless to say we ended up buying TWO SKS'S, instead of one. It's better that She has her own and won't be bumming mine. What the heck, She already shoots my 44 mag, what harm will an SKS do.

Anyhow, thanks again for all the wonderful replies--Oneshot and family

 

[PzGren]

It is not too early, especially for a long gun. My boys were four and five years old, when I bought some .22 l.r. Roehms for their little hands. When they were about eight years old they talked me out of my S&W 19 in four inch and my S&W 625...and that was only the beginning!

When they were about 7 and 6 years old, they found a loaded .38 snubbie under an uncles bed, in the room where they played with their cousins. They could see the hammer down and the brass in the cylinder, evacuated the room, and called me.

I was very pround that day. I am very proud now, when I take my 13, 14 year old boys to the range and get comments about them shooting very well.

 

[MeekandMild]

Needless to say we ended up buying TWO SKS'S, instead of one.

Now you're going to make the kid jealous. Poor kid will be shooting a .22 while his parents shoot 7.62's. He may be warped for life until you buy him a .243 AR-10 to compensate for his misery.

Seriously, my vote is you get either three .22s or the .22 and nothing else until he can graduate to center fire.

 

[ojibweindian]

I gave my daugher my single shot Savage 12 gauge when she was 8. She's too small to actually shoot the thing, but with it I have been teaching her the four rules of gun safety.

 

[greyhound]

The teachers and principle didn't think it was right for me to "train my son with weapons"

He returned to school this year, and talked about learning to use a muzzle loader. His teacher told him it is a forbidden subject at school.

What gives these people the right to concern themselves with what hobbies kids have outside of school?

 

[cool45auto]

I started my daughter with my Beretta U22 Neos when she was seven.