Children and guns

[thriftyjoe]

Sheepdog thank you for fathering children who protect american's at home and abroad

Thank all of you for your insights they were very helpfull

keep your thoughts of children and guns coming...

 

[Maddox]

Kids and Guns

Step son shooting my xd9 and 10/22 and a rented Ruger Mark3 . I just started shooting last year, he's 11 now started him on a daisy red rider, now he's getting better shooting the 9mm, but he is a great shot with the 10/22 and shoots better then I do with the Ruger Mark. Probably wont start his sister for another year when she turns 8.

 

[NWCP]

My dad started me out at the age of 11. I've see fathers and grandfathers at the gun club with their 8 and 9 year old teaching them gun safety and letting them shoot. A lot has to do with the child's maturity. 11 was early enough for me. That's also the year he took me hunting for the first time. I'm not crazy about having an 8 year old with a weapon in hand right next to me at the range. Of course their are 50 year olds that I feel the same way about.

 

[oldfool]

www.corneredcat website advice, YES, how we do it, always have, 3 generations now

Eddie Eagle starting about pre-school
Chipmunk introduction ~ age 6
always, always safety first, and fun 2nd
always, always about the child, not about you, focus on them

do safety first, rightly supervised fun second, don't worry about skill & efficiency, those will come in time if do the first two right
we, all of us, learn best what we learn earliest
hunting maybe about age 12, if child is clearly interested, will vary

and always practice what you preach... but you already knew that

 

[MarineOne]

Started my boys out when they were 7 and 10. Now the oldest just turned 14 and the youngest is going to be 11, and they can't wait to go to the range. I've even started to have them clean the rifles now (SKS, 10/22, and AR-15) after we come back from shooting.

The next time I'm home (this summer) I'll take some pics and post them.



Kris

 

[Artiz]

As soon as possible. The more they are around guns and actually get to touch and "play" with them (unloaded), the less they will be attracted and intrigued by this unknown black thing daddy doesn't want you to touch.

 

[Ky Larry]

I can never remember a time when we didn't have firearms in the house. I can't even remember the first time I shot a gun. I got my first gun ( a .22 Remington 514 I still have) at age 9.
I don't understand why guns should cause fear in kids. My memories of hunting and shooting are very happy. I treasure the time spent with my dad and my uncles.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Oldfool,

What is Chipmunk introduction? I did a Google search and didn’t come up with anything.

I’ve been watching the Eddie Eagle video with my daughter for several months since she was 5, she just turned 6. I can hear that song in my sleep! She can’t get enough of it.

The Cornered Cat website is a fantastic resource. I took the advice about “Disarming Her Curiosity” under “The First Lesson”. I think this is a very good way of removing the mystique of an handgun.

 

[HighStrung]

More maturity than age

I was someone who was fortunate enough to have been taught about guns at a relatively young age. I was introduced to firearms when I was 6. I was shown what they were, and that unless accompanied by an adult (for example; over at a friends house and they found their dads guns) that I was to remove myself from the situation. I was taught not to fear guns, but to respect them which I still maintain today. I was taught their purposes, and most importantly the safety in handling them. I was taught how to shoot beginning around 8 using a .22lr and after I became somewhat competent I was taken hunting. Shortly after I was introduced to my first gun, a nice little 410 (which I still have to this day) that dad had picked up for me. It was kept in the gun cabinet along with all his. I was told from the beginning, if ever I wanted to shoot all I had to do was ask and he held true to that rule. I took my first dear at the age of 12 hunting from my own stand with my own 20ga that I had saved money to buy. The "how to field dress a deer" was a lesson that I'll never forget. While I was mature in dealing with guns I was not so much in other areas. I did borrow and copy dad's gun cabinet keys around the age of 14 without him knowing. Though I had my own key, I never took the guns out without him home or without his permission, my copy of the key was because his nudie books were in the cabinet too. My 16th birthday present from him was a nice little SKS that I still own as well. I know have a daughter who is 2 1/2 and a son that is 8 months. I plan to teach them the same way I was taught. Beginning around 5-6 I will introduce them to guns and the safety of them. Between 6-8 we'll probably go shoot if they have the interest beginning with rifles or my old 410. As they become more competent we'll graduate up to the handguns. Though I have ages as a rough timeline, I fully expect their maturity to detirmine how things will play out. As for teaching them the "fear" of guns, I won't. I'll teach them the respect that guns deserve due to what they are capable of.