Kids at Gun Shows?

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35Rem

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What's your opinion?

A recent thread was slightly sidetracked by discussion on kids/children at gun shows.

I'll save my opinion for later in the discussion.
 
Many kids are fine and well behaved. many others are touching everything on the table, grabbing stuff and dropping items on the floor as they spill their drinks on the guns. Really small kids in strollers are pushed down the aisles taking up all the walking space and slowing everyone down.

But a couple years ago I mentioned this in a similar thread and was absolutely pilloried, called all sorts of names for saying it.

I say leave the small children at home.
 
Ehh..depends if they can keep their hands to themselves.

I've taken my 2 year old before...but he stays on my shoulders. Wife likes it because my hands are busy holding him and not buying stuff. ;)
 
My brother is 15 I take him to the gun show whenever I go, he doesn't touch anything unless the people at the stalls let him. I taught him gun safety myself so there's no problem.
 
I take my 1yr old son with me to the gun shows. He's extremely well behaved and either stays in his (small umbrella style) stroller, in my arms, or with his mother. Most times he ends up napping through most of the time we're there and the rest of the time oo'ing and aa'ing at all the guns. He's fascinated with them, and I love that. He already knows the difference between (my) pistol and rifle.
 
If they're behaved, kids are fine. In America, gun shows are a family affair, and should be kept that way. That includes the baby strollers. Baby strollers are part of the American family. Folks, who got a problem with that, need to climb out of their cave a little more, and meet the Human race.
 
15 isn't a kid...

I do have a problem with the strollers and it is more of a problem with the show organizers than it is with the strollers themselves. The aisles between tables are so stupidly narrow that the strollers cause big traffic problems. There is usually barely enough room for 2 American sized adults to pass in opposite directions while turned sideways. Strollers complicate that a lot.

As far as kids in general, if the kid is behaved and able to keep their hands to themselves then great, if not then they should not be there.
 
Several comments so far about "Behaving" and "keeping their hands to themselves"...

Shouldn't this apply to the "adults" that come, too?

Is it different when it's a curious child?

(food for thought and discussion, continue)
 
Depends upon how crowded/close together the tables are and how well behaved the kids are.

Strollers get in the way of other patrons in all but the most open and sparse shows so I'd prefer to see kid backpacks instead out of consideration of the other patrons.

Children should be taught how to behave in public and how to behave safely around firearms. If your kids can't handle the environment then you shouldn't impose them on others, but if the children know to stick close to you and not to touch anything without asking first there's no reason not to take them.
 
I never buy kids at gun shows. You never know where they have been. I usually go to the Huge kids sale at the fairgrounds. You can pick up kids there cheap..

What's that? Oh...... You mean TAKING kids to a gun show....

Nope, I never do that.

No kids, and it would be weird taking some random kid.
 
If they're behaved, kids are fine. In America, gun shows are a family affair, and should be kept that way. That includes the baby strollers. Baby strollers are part of the American family. Folks, who got a problem with that, need to climb out of their cave a little more, and meet the Human race.
Click to expand...

+1. Yes, the aisles are usually too tight, that is just something to expect. Personally, I would rather see strollers than the people who are too fat and lazy to walk and are running people down in their electric carts. Those kids, being brought up in a gun friendly enviroment and being taken to gun shows at early ages, are the future defenders of the right to bear arms.
 
I've taken my son to a few since he was about 9 years old. He likes to look at everything and at 13 years old now he's nearly as tall as me and not really a "kid" anymore.

I have to keep pulling him from the tables that sell surplus gas masks. Not sure the fascination there...
 
As long as they behave themselves and stay close to their parents. Strollers are a pain and should be left at home. It's not an amusement park.
 
I think it's a great family outing, kids included. As for the range, no, not til they are mature enough to "Know and Respect the Rules Completely". For my son that was age 10 and he still talks about that day being the best day of his life. He's 27 know.

I'm of the opinion that kids should be introduced at the earliest age to our Hobbies, it gives them the edge later by having the basics understood.
 
I have been to many gunshows where I would have preferred people had left their bratty kids at home. But then again, I have seen some very well behaved kids that are a sign of good parenting.
 
no you should never bring your small goats to a gun show...o wait

i remember as a small child going to gun shows with my dad...i was fascinated and i feel that had alot to do with my interest in guns now
 
and
I wish people wouldn't get on the same road as me
but since I can't buy tallidega for the drive home, I have learned to share


So work with your local sponsor and ban kids, see how well that flys, yeah, NO CHILDREN (kids would have to be ok, if its a service animal)
yeppers they would love to exclude the buying power of all those 20-60 year old men and women.

How bout instead of bitching you just get up early and get there when the doors open, or go at around 2 (nap time for the little ones)
 
Since I set up at shows to sell knives I see the best and worst aspects of having kids at the shows, but well behaved kids are never a problem and badly behaved kids are no worse than the badly behaved adults (and often seem to be related). In the case of an adult, though, you're not burdened with the same liability as with a child. If some idiot with a room temp IQ cuts himself on one of my knives I have fewer problems than if his little demon spawn nicks his pinky.
 
Fat and lazy people riding on carts that sound they they are going to die when they talk and smell like they haven't showered in a month only to offer you $200 for a $1,000 rifle is annoying, strollers are not.

Kids are customers too get over it.
 
We don't have kids yet. So, when their parents allow them to come along I take the neighbor kids along who want to go. Most are under 12 yoa and get in free.

They need exposure to these events, and this culture, in a positive manner. Get them to see these things in a positive light before someone taints their young minds. IMHO. :D
 
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