Young ones and handguns

[Puncha]

At a recent public affairs exhibition at my country's police academy, they allowed members of the public to have a go at firing a police issue Taurus Model 85 3" barrel revolver at a standard "perp" target at 20 meters. Each person was allowed 10 rounds of 158gr LRN to be fired under the watchful eye of the range officer. As gun control over here in Asia makes California look like an NRA paradise, quite a few curious people turned up.

Anyway, I was there to visit my nephew who is a trainee constable and it so happenned that a local catholic girl's school had decided to take a class there on a field trip (must be some "careers week" kinda thing). I observed that most of the giggling teenaged girls (none of them could have been above 15) were making disgusted faces and declined the chance to shoot the revolver. EXCEPT for this one Eurasian girl who confidently walked up to the range officer, patiently listened to his safety instructions, put on hearning protection (she already wore glasses) and when he started to load the cartridges for her, she smiled sweetly at him and said that she could do it herself.

As I was at the lane immediately to her left, I could see that she held the cylinder open with right hand and held the 5 loose rounds in her left hand, EXPERTLY loading them one at a time with practiced ease. She then closed the cylinder, smoothly adopted a weaver stance and proceeded to quickly crank out one failure drill and one double tap. When the target was reeled in, it showed two COM shots about 3"s apart, one shot to the forehead and two shots within 2"s where the target's nose would be.

In what sounded to me like a faint American accent, she then told the range officer that she would not be needing the other five shots. She then proceeded to open the cylinder, extract the spent casings into a nearby ammo can and hand the revolver back to the instructor with the cylinder open and the grips towards him.

When asked if she had fired handguns before, she smiles innocently and said, "nah....this is my first time, I learnt everything I know from the internet." Frankly, speaking I don't believe her.

So guys.....have you ever had any personal experiences of encountering a teenager or child who exhibited safety, gun handling and accuracy skills far in excess of their ages?

 

[shooter429]

Yes

My children sure do. They have been taught about safety and responsibility as well as proficiency their entire lives (well since they could walk and talk, anyway).

Shooter

 

[dakotasin]

my daughter is 7 and handles an ar-15 as well as anybody. she needs some help w/ shotguns - just doesn't have the strength for them, and does pretty well w/ handguns.

 

[PRazz]

You should have sent her here to the High Road. If she can learn all that from the internet, imagine what she could learn at a site like this. Kids are quick learners. Too bad the others didn't want to partake.

 

[AK103K]

Ditto what shooter429 said. From the day they were born, our kids were taught safety, function, and technique. By the time they fired their first live rounds from their Chipmunks at 4, they had "fired" tens of thousands of rounds on the living room floor dry firing. The only difference was the report. Both kept every round fired on the paper and most in the black at 15 yards first time out.

By the time they were 5, they were shooting my MP on full auto with no trouble and total trigger control.

Kids are the easiest to teach and learn the fastest. Start them as young as you possibly can, and you all will be much better off. If you wait until they are 10 or 12, your way behind the curve and it will be more difficult.

 

[CK]

Where in Southeast Asia? This makes me jelous.

 

[sm]

So guys.....have you ever had any personal experiences of encountering a teenager or child who exhibited safety, gun handling and accuracy skills far in excess of their ages

Yep.

I was born and raised in the South, upon my coming home from being born, a .22 revolver was put next to me in my dresser drawer crib. Age 3 I shot MY gun. Age 6 shot my first 1911.

In school, it was common for the Police Officer to come by and show all us kids Police guns, and others. Parents showed up too, and kids got to handle and learn all about guns.

Later, on a range, we got to shoot the Police gun, most times a Model 10 with light loads.

How raised - what you do.

Kids took responsibly for themselves. It was no big deal to head off down the road, to the woods to go shoot.
No Nanny State, No School Board, No Gubmint meddling.

Not just here in the South, all over the country.

Then I get bigger, and meet folks from England, over here to visit relatives, and their kids, my age, knew how to handle a gun and could shoot too.

I have met folks from all over the world, that grew up this way...
Some still can do this without Gubmint meddlin', some are really sad and angry with restrictions and the kids cannot be raised as they were.

I still think every kid should have a .22 single shot rifle and handgun by the time they are 5 years old. Every school should have air rifles for the kids to shoot and learn on in school, and every school should have some kind of team shooting sport.

Kids being raised like this has always worked.
Gun control has not.

 

[AK103K]

Well said and right on the money SM.