Age to start shooting
The fact is our children are learning about shooting from the moment they comprehend TV, the news, and their friends.
I used firearms in my employ, and for hunting and competition. I always kept them in a safe but worried about our boys encountering guns in other homes. I wanted them to know the truth about the dangers, and the false scenes portrayed in movies.
I started the first two at age five with a pump air rifle. They quickly wanted handguns so we also used my Benjamin. I started them shooting my Ruger 10/22 at about age 8, or when I was satisfied they never made mistakes with the air rifle. I bought each his own 10/22 at age 10. I still kept them locked in the safe, but allowed them to handle the guns with my wife or me at home, any time they wanted.
Number Three learned the fastest by watching his older brothers and was shooting the Ruger sooner. When his brothers began shooting my other rifles and my handguns, there was no telling him he couldn't. Before each was 12 (and before the youngest was 10), they were shooting anything I had.
The oldest is now professional military, with four deployments to Iraq. He has described abyssmal gun handling by US military, but took apart and serviced his issued Beretta because he had been shooting mine since 1989 (he was born 1977).
The youngest is now a LEO. He was my Cowboy Action partner for years and I could always outshoot him. Today he is the top shot in his unit and can leave me in the dust unless I cheat - which I usually do, with him.
The middle one is the reason I tell EVERYONE to teach their children proper firearms handling. They were all taught that, while they were young, if someone was mishandling a gun, or if another minor was handling a gun, they should leave and tell an adult. That apparently never happened, I'm happy to say.
BUT, the year our middle son and his classmates turned 21, one of them bought a Beretta 92. He had it sitting in its open box, on display on his coffee table with a toddler and a number of irresponsible relatives and friends coming in and out and playing "Gangsta" with it. Our son walked in, saw it, picked it up, cleared it (it was not loaded), closed it in its box and, as he walked out the door with it, told his friend he could have it back when he got a safe or lock box.
He is also a recreational shooter, but if none of them EVER continued an interest in guns, that momemt was worth training them.
I think all children old enough to play in someone else's home should know how to make a gun safe by at least checking to see if it's loaded. That means pulling a magazine and racking the slide, or opening the cylinder and ejecting rounds, openiing the bolt or a shotgun action. Then, they tell an adult.
What about finding a gun outside on the lawn? Some years ago a killer pitched a gun into the bushes as he fled police in Wisconsin. Weeks later some children found it. I taught our boys to leave such guns untouched, but guard it whle telling someone else to call the police. Touching it would likely compromise evidence, and if someone saw them carrying it, things might not go well with the police upon initial contact. Note: Two boys in Waukesha WI were carrying guns that were obvious toys to any knowledgable person, but someone saw them and called the cops. The boys were put on their faces at gunpoint. Not something I want for my children.
Teach, train, expect.
-Backpacker
