At what age do think that firearms should be allowed for self defense?

[Titan6]

I am getting ready to make a trip out of town on business and won't be back for about a year and half. I am considering allowing my son to keep his .22 in his room for self defense if needed with a full magazine. He is very smart and responsible but will still be only 10 when I leave. This is fully in compliance with all state and local laws. We will be changing residence shortly before I leave.

He has had the NRA safety course (and is a proud member) and is a decent enough shot to hit a pie plate a 100 yards with his scoped Ruger. He has probably shot about 3-4K rounds and knows fully the functioning, disassmebly and cleaning of his rifle. We have done zero training on self defense measures but there is still plenty of time before I leave.

The house the family will be living in while I am gone is in a fairly remote area with no neighbors within 3/4 of a mile. While crime is low it is certainly not unheard of in the area. They will be near a highway that sees a lot of seasonal transient traffic on foot in the spring and fall. When we lived there previously there was one theft of some outside property and on at least three occasions people came to the door asking for water or money or odd jobs. It is not unusual for the police to take 25 minutes to arrive for a routine call.

The wife is well armed but my concern is she would be the only armed person in the house. In the only incident where she had to drive off an unfriendly; the person was gone by the time she got her gun out.

This is a tough call for me make. I had a soldier whose son commited suicide unexpectedly and have always been extra cautious with my kids. I would mostly like to know if anyone else out there allows their kids to keep guns and ammo on hand for self defense emergencies and how their experiences have been? If so any suggestions at all would be helpful. Negative repsonses are also appreciated with reasonings as well. Factual information on the subject would be most helpful.

 

[PotatoJudge]

Is there someone that can get him out shooting regularly while you're gone? That will likely help with the temptation to take it down and mess with it when he shouldn't.

Getting him out to shoot it a ton before you leave should help with that and give him a last refresher on safety.

 

[Kentak]

I dunno. 10 is awfully young to comprehend all the nuances of deadly force law. I think making the wife the responsible person is the best choice.

K

 

[TargetTerror]

When they are old enough to need to defend themselves...

Ask yourself whether you trust your son with a gun in his control. From your post, it sounds like you already do. If so, and so long as him having said gun does no violate any laws, I would give him a quick course on the use of deadly force and rest assured that you family will be able to defend themselves as best they can should they need to.

There are many nuances about using deadly force, but I would think a 10 year old can understand the basics, particularly as they pertain to a home invasion scenario.

 

[Geno]

I say yes. He is trained and experienced. Mom is also armed and experienced.

Has he been in possession of the rifle/ammo to date, or do you keep it locked? If you want a test-run, let him try between now and the day before your departure date.

The last thing I would add is that, 10 is pretty mature...was for me! Let him present his own argument in favor of. Not on the spot. Tell him to think about it over night, and come to you when he is ready to plea his case for holding his own rifle/ammo, and make him present pros and cons. See how he handles that.

God bless and good luck,

Doc2005

 

[glock g19]

When I was 10 I knew exactly what a gun was made for and I wasn't EVER going to be stupid enough to use it otherwise. If I were you just make sure that he is perfectly clear that you will BEAT HIS ASS if he messes around with it. Haha

 

[Art Eatman]

Sort of an "I dunno" for me. I had my own .22 rifle in my room at just over that age, and while home defense was less of an issue sixty years back, I would have had more than just a minimum clue about what was involved.

Art

 

[MrCleanOK]

Let me preface this by saying that I am 21 years old, and don't have children.


Asking a 10-year-old boy to shoot and kill in the event of a home invasion / defensive shooting situation is too much. People do a lot of developing between his age and ours, and that responsibility (considerably more so- having to use that responsibility) will have a much greater impact on him than it would on you or me.

It's easy to think about the advantages of arming your son to defend the house. But do those possible pro's outweigh the possible con's? I don't think so. If you are not convinced, consider an outcome to a defensive shooting situation that you would consider a worst-case, but still possible scenario.

For instance:
Criminal breaks into the house, your son grabs his gun and comes out of his room to defend the house, and in the time it takes him to get ready mom has already surprised the home invader and somehow gets killed. It would be easy for anybody to feel I-didn't-get-there-in-time guilt.

Likely? No. Possible? Yes. A burden I would want my 10-year-old son to grow up with? Not even worth risking.

 

[Titan6]

Currently I do not currently keep his gun locked up nor do I allow him full access to it either. The ammunition is no longer locked up either. So if he were enterprising and had about 20 minutes alone in the house he could get it out and load it. That said he is never alone in the house by himself that long either.

The FIL will be coming around on regular basis. He is happy they will be there for the added perk that I set up a shooting range in an old quarry on the property and the good hunting out there as well. I am 100% certain he will be thrilled beyond measure to take grandchildren shooting whenever they ask.

Currently we go to the range about once a month, sometimes more. It really depends as the kids have so many weekend activites sometimes it is impossible. Guns have never been a big deal in our house. They have never even given the wall hangers a second glance and can go shoot whenever they want. They like many other activites more than shooting.

 

[Titan6]

Art- I dunno either. I feel he is ready for the gun but to think in those terms I am less sure. We do things at my house that most people don't do like fire drills, hurricane drills and the like and he always seems to remember what to do. But dealing with an intruder is a whole other ball of wax.

MrClean- I hear you but it is still better than not growing up at all.

 

[Art Eatman]

By age ten-ish I was reading way beyond my years; I recall reading Zane Grey and others during the War, and I was just eleven on VJ Day. Certainly the concept of shooting a Bad Guy was not at all beyond me. I was already hunting and trapping. Catching and killing a chicken for Sunday dinner. Helping with hog-butchering and veterinary stuff liked doctoring screw worms in cows/calves. All that started when I was about seven.

"You take care of your Mom" would have had me being a pretty good guard dog.

, Art

 

[Titan6]

Most kids out here pick up a gun at 6 and are hunting by 8 but under heavy supervision. Most times not hunting with friends or on their own until at least their teens. I was about 8 when I started on guns. I never gave much thought to defending the house.

My dad had already retired from the Marines at that point and he was not exactly the type that people bothered.

 

[tepin]

My dad bought me a ruger single-six .22 when i was 12 years old. I have had handguns around ever since and still have the .22.

I was in 4th grade (I think) when i was home alone, sick watching TV. Someone tried to get into the front door so I ran to the bedroom and got dads .357 and waited for the guy to enter the home, which he never did because my dog started to bark. So, the house next door got robbed.

I would say yes on the gun. However, you know your kid better than we do so it will have to be your call as to maturity level etc... The last thing you would ever want to happen is for someone in your family to need a gun and not have one and die or be raped or worse as a result of being unarmed.

 

[tepin]

So what do unarmed people (regardless of age) do when people like THIS invade the home?

Asking a 10-year-old boy to shoot and kill in the event of a home invasion / defensive shooting situation is too much. People do a lot of developing between his age and ours, and that responsibility (considerably more so- having to use that responsibility) will have a much greater impact on him than it would on you or me.

 

[Oleg Volk]

I've known 10yo kids mature enough.

 

[Kentak]

Just keep in mind, being old enough to handle and shoot a gun safely and accurately at the range is *not* the same thing as being old enough to have the judgement and knowledge about when to shoot in a *possible* self-defense situation. Kids can get scared, maybe more-so when Dad isn't home. When you're scared, judgement goes out the window, especially if you haven't had the length of time to ponder and think these scenarios out ahead of time as most adults have. And, when all you have is a hammer, all problems look like a nail.

K

 

[siskiyou3]

I say no, let your wife do the protecting, 10 is too young to be responsible for the safety of your family or having to deal with using deadly force.

edit- Big +1 kentak

 

[BullfrogKen]

Only you and your wife know your son. How does she feel about him having unsupervised access to it?

Whether or not he'll be able to use a gun, or should be encouraged to use one in self-defense at that age is not something we can answer. Some adults never reach that point. Some young people possess maturity beyond their years.


If he acts like a responsible young man, give him as much responsibility as he can bear. And tell him you have high expectations of him to use good judgement with the trust you've extended to him. Fathers have used such techniques to mature their young boys into men for centuries.

 

[Alphazulu6]

***?!?!?! 10-years-old is a tad young to push home defense lethality and responsibility. My dad started me shooting at age 3 but the guns were always locked up seperately than the ammunition. Please re-consider the idea of having a home defense weapon handed to your 10 year old. It depends on the child but 16 is absolute minimum age for legality reasons. Besides children and firearms are a terrible mix. Not so much just him but his friends that come over to the house.

 

[Sunray]

"...only 10..." Too young. Trained or not, he's a child.
"...This is fully in compliance with all state and local laws..." No it isn't.
From the NRA's State laws page for Texas:
"A person commits an offense if a child under 17 gains access to a readily dischargeable firearm and the person with criminal negligence failed to secure it or left it in a place to which the person knew or should have known the child would gain access."

 

[TheDisturbed1]

ya gotta admit, 10 is very young... I am 17 and i keep my AK in my room at an easy-to access location without a magazine inserted. but I do keep a loaded mag on me or nearby, in this neighborhood i'm in I am not taking chances... just recently a man made his way into our house and molested my mother while she was sleeping, to imagine if i was there would be to get blurry vision and busy veigns. I only hope you make the right choice, good luck

 

[Titan6]

Sunray- Regardless of what the law is in Texas as I noted we are changing residence and they won't be in Texas while I am gone. In the state they will be in this is perfectly legal as there is no minimum age or condition for the possesion of shotguns and rifles.

Alphazulu6- I am not so sure ''children and firearms are a terrible mix''. Certainly in some cases they are. Most of the time that I have seen firearms used illegally or improperly was when the gun was in the hands of an untrained child or an irresponsible adult. People of all ages make mistakes and have accidents; so that certainly is a risk that no age or amount of training will eliminate. School shooters and the like present themselves with mental and/or legal problems long before they slip off the edge.

I consider certain things such as the internet and violent video games to pose a greater threat to kids than guns. Ideas in of themselves are much more dangerous and failure to teach kids right from wrong is likely the bigger culprit.

The issue is not really the gun itself. The issue is whether or not a ten year old boy is in theory old enough to make a serious call in a possible life - death situtation with a firearm instead of being a helpless victim or witness. If armed or with access to a firearm it only follows that he should be more trained to deal with such situations instead of showing up without a clue, as that could likely lead to tragedy.

I am certainly leaning that way. My son is capable of advanced thought well beyond his years and has a level of maturity that I just don't see in other kids his age. He has read more than 1000 books, is literally the smartest kid in his school, is involved heavily in scouting and is an excellent athlete to boot (I know.. enough braggin' but it is all true).

The wife is undecided also. I don't want to force anything on her as it will ultimately be up to her to deal with any such situtations while I am gone. Her biggest concern is other kids gaining access to the rifle when they come to visit. We have a large extended family in that area and one branch is close to being anti (They have a couple of inherited long arms but the kids who are teens are not allowed near them and the family does not shoot or hunt at all) while another branch fruther away is solidly anti. The concern is the kids from the uninitiated households would get access to the gun and cause an accident. This worries me also and the only way I can see to avoid it is to lock the guns up when they come to visit.

 

[Mannix]

I wouldn't rely on a 10 year old for household defense, it really should be left to the parents. Killing someone will do some serious damage to a kid, but then being killed is infinitely worse.

That being said, I think some 10 year olds are responsible enough to be trusted with firearms of their own. My grandpa gave my dad his own .22(he had used them alot before) at age 10, handed him a brick of ammo, and after a short lecture of safety and a stern warning, let him loose in the woods. The gun was kept in his room, and the only rule for storage was that it was to be kept unloaded while in the house.

I think giving him the training to handle firearms safely and giving him a tool that could be used to defend himself and family if necessary is fine, but him having to deal with the decision to kill another human being should be avoided at all costs. Your wife should be the main person responsible for home defense if god forbid the need would arise while you are away.

I would not say to your kid that the reason he has the gun is for protection, rather I would say it is because you trust that he will act responsibly with it while you are gone. I would also not go against your wife at all no matter what you decide, she has to be totally comfortable with it. I would also stress that he has extra responsibilities while you are gone, not specifically pointing out defense, and that he is totally responsible for the rifle while it's out whether it's in his hands or not.

As for whether your child specifically is mature enough to have a firearm in his room, that no one but those who know him can help you with.

 

[HiWayMan]

At what age do think that firearms should be allowed for self defense?

When the individual is done hanging out with stupid people, in stupid places, doing stupid things.


............And 10 years old is too young to be making a child an active shooter in a self defense situation, IMO.

 

[McCall911]

I'm probably echoing every other post, but I say as long as they're appropriately responsible, firearm-educated, and disciplined, then the younger the better.