Teaching your kids gun safety

[Guest Boomhower]

This topic springs from a conversation in another thread. Give us some real world experience that involves how you taught your children gun safety.

Though be it, I do have a few questions, I'll start off.

I once read an article of how to take the interest out of guns for your children. It talked about spending endless time (as much as is takes) when your child ask you about your guns to show them what they want to know, and letting them get some hands on experience while you are cleaning and shooting your firearms.

I have secceded fairly well in boring my 6 yr. old with guns the last time I was cleaning them. He willingly walked away after about 30 min. of looking, touching and learning about all the functioning parts. I plan to continue this if he ever ask about them again, or the next time I have them out cleaning them.

He loves shooting the .22 target pistol, surpervised of course. He holds the gun in his hand and pulls the trigger at his own will, but I have my hands cupped over his to the extent that he can't move without me letting him. The first thing he wants to do is lay down on the gun like a rifle, but with a pistol, we all know that you will bust your face pretty quick. I've showed him how that can happen, but I still have to refresh his memory every couple of shoots. And on one occasssion, he got a little wild and wanted to just pull the trigger repeatedly while trying to point the muzzle up into the air. Luckly, we had a very large hill as a back stop and he is pretty quick to respond to loud commands. And he also found out pretty quick that shooting daddy's big guns isn't as fun as the .22.

A few questions:

1) What is a good age to purchase your child his/her first gun?

2) Should you buy them a .22 rifle (ie. a cricket), or a .22 target pistol?

3) What is the easiest way to provide a safe enviroment for such a young child while learning how to handle and discharge a firearm?

4) How do you handle the short attention span of a young child? (once they tire out after a couple of shoots, put the guns up and walk away, or insist that they pay attention for a little while longer?)

What other tips and tricks can you guys offer that you have proven to work very well with your own children? I'm sure there are a lot of other questions out there, so post them up as well. After all, this is for the children .

[Guest canynracer]

I am curious about this as well, I have three children, 12yr old girl, 6yr old girl, and a 3yr old boy...I grew up around guns, I showed my oldest the gun, so she knows what it looks like, she held it, and she did ask some questions about why I bought it, and why i am choosing to carry it. This is the first gun she has been around, and she is basically curious about why all the sudden mom and dad want to have a gun. I explained the protection thing and also told her that this is something that needs to be taken VERY seriously.

RangeUSA offers a childerns handgun course where they teach gun saftey, it is 6hrs over 2 days, and they do have range time with the instructors. I will be sending my 12yrd old to that.

http://www.rangeusa.com/Training/RangeUSAUniversity/EntryLevel/FirearmSafetyMarksmanshipYouth/tabid/213/Default.aspx

I know I can teach her, but I am a little more comfortable with the instructors that have the experience in teaching young children.

My wife and I have discussed the same for my 6yr old but agreed that we will see the 12yr olds reaction to the class first.

I think every parents approach is different, and alot depends on the childs interest level.

I can say that my 12 yr old wasnt very interested it it at all..lol..she would MUCH rather be shopping at Hollister...She knows what it is, she knows it is not a toy, she knows it can kill if payed with...question is, do you force the issue if they have no interest?

[Mike.357]

Great topic Boom.

As for age I think it depends on the individual child. Some kids are ready for supervised shooting at 5 while others are not ready at 10. My kids are grown so I will use Cameron (5 yr old grandson) as a reference. He is close to ready, but I think after 15 minutes of shooting he is ready to move on to something else. We have shot the BB guns together and 15 minutes is about the max for his attention. And 15 minutes to a 5 year old is a long time so IMHO he did good.

I am leaning towards buying him a single shot for Christmas. It definitely will be a rifle.

The Cricket is sized about perfect for him and one cartridge at a time makes it about as safe as possible. I guess he would be ready to do something else after about twenty shots. The peep sight on the Cricket I think will help him learn proper aim too.

As for safe environment, you have seen where I shoot. We have a relatively safe backstop. I would probably sit in a chair and have him right in front of me, basically between my knees almost. I already harp on him about trigger discipline even when he is playing with toy guns. He is starting to grasp that concept. I would also make sure he never has more than one cartridge in his possession at a time. I am curious as to how good his dexterity would be with loading one .22LR into that Cricket. I would also keep him no more than 25 feet from the target, that way he should shoot well enough to hit what I want him aiming at.

As for attention span, he is pretty good at being obvious when he is bored with doing something. Like most kids he has the attention span of a gnat. I would not force him to continue on after he has expressed a desire to stop. And from experience I know 15 minutes is enough. If he wanted to keep shooting for an hour I would let him, but would limit him to one pack of 50 cartridges at a time. I doubt he will get through that many.

As for tricks and tips all you can really do it teach them proper safety methods along with proper grip and stance. I do believe re-actionary targets will help too. Punching paper bores me pretty fast too. I like the idea of water filled pop cans or spinner targets so they can see something happen when they hit it.

Canyn, I never forced interest with Cameron. He has been very interested as long as I can remember. One thing to do for sure if they ask about your guns is to stop what you are doing and spend however much time is needed right then (not during dinner though,lol) to let them handle and ask question about the guns. The only thing I would force with guns in the house is safety and then some more safety. I have spent a lot of time making sure he knows the difference between toys, BB guns and real guns.

Push real hard on the bit about getting an adult right away if they find a gun or ammunition. And no matter what they want to do in a situation they are never to touch a gun without permission. You do your part at home by making sure guns and ammo are locked up and out of reach to the kids.

The big deal with ammo is that while your guns may not be accessible some other kids parents might be, and those kids might not think twice about taking bullets from your home to try out in their old mans gun.

Who else can pitch in with some ideas?

[molonlabetn]

One of the most fun activities I had when I was young, was building cheap plastic model airplanes and blasting them apart from 25-50yd with my air-rifle. 10 years old is a good age to really push responsible firearms handling and care, but exposure to guns at a younger age, under the supervision of responsible adults, is invaluable.

As far back as I can remember, I always knew that the 12gauge in dad's closet was off-limits... and never even tried to sneak a peek at it, much less touch it, unless he handed it to me. To this day, I won't pick it up without permission...

[Guest Fuel]

A few questions:

1) What is a good age to purchase your child his/her first gun?

2) Should you buy them a .22 rifle (ie. a cricket), or a .22 target pistol?

Seems I remember having a .22 when I was around 11 years old. My oldest son is now 11 and I am working on getting him into shooting. I just bought a .17 Savage I intend to let him try. He seems more interested in shotguns though. I'd love to get him hooked on those and take him trap or skeet shooting. My mom owns a 40 acre farm so we have plenty of room to try different things out at our leisure.

RangeUSA offers a childerns handgun course where they teach gun saftey, it is 6hrs over 2 days, and they do have range time with the instructors. I will be sending my 12yrd old to that.

http://www.rangeusa.com/Training/RangeUSAUniversity/EntryLevel/FirearmSafetyMarksmanshipYouth/tabid/213/Default.aspx

Interesting. Any idea when they hold the classes?

[Guest Engloid]

For small kids, say 2-12...

Lets say you have one shotgun. Put it in the living room, leaned against a wall. Don't even have any ammo in the house, so there's no real danger there. Tell them that if they even touch it, they get a spanking. You know that they'll do it at least a couple times, but with no ammo, there's no danger there. They will learn quickly not to mess with it, IF you back up your promise to spank them EVERY time they touch a real gun.

[Guest c.a.s.]

Make that "if they don;t ask". Otherwise, you might just put a fear in them of the gun, and they'll never get an interest in something they got hit for if they touched. But, if they ask and are allowed to touch it, hold it, get in explained, they might garner an interest in the sport and lose the mystery around guns.

I can't say much about rasing, but I can say plenty about being raised. I got a BB gun around my 4th birthday. Still have it, too. My attention span was that of a ferret with ADD on crack. Grampaw would take me out in the yard with it (with a hill as a backstop) whenever I asked, and would drop whatever he was doing if it wasn't important to do so. I would last about 10-15 minutes (on a GOOD day), then pack up and see how close I got to cutting the can in half. When I was 7, he opened the cabinet that wasn't allowed to open something that had been integrated into the scenery that I had accepted as being there like it was a part of the wall. He showed me his small collection, let me work the bolt on the .30-06 (for 7, that is a HEAVY rifle, he had to hold it up). He let me look through the scope on it, and attempt to hold it steady at the safe direction (wall, house is half sunk in a hill, so the wall was underground), all the while under his control. I went back to the short trips with the BB gun. Then, three years ago, I bought my own pellet gun, a Daisy Grizzly. My first scope, and something intermediate between my little BB gun and Papaws full-size Crossan. I spent a whole hour zeroing the scope, and finally cutting a can in half. I had shot the .22 a few times by then, though I was turned off to guns for a small streak after shooting the 12-gauge right in the middle of a .22 session. On my 13th birthday, I was officially given the .22 that had belonged to by Great-Grandfather. Now, two years after that, I have unfettered access ("unfettered" meaning I buy the ammo after asking if I can take a gun) to whatever is in the safe, except for a few certain guns that are purely emotional and sentimental pieces, which I wouldn't shoot even if offered.

[Guest Boomhower]

We went to Gander Mtn. tonight and while daddy was looking at shotguns, he wanted to go to the toy section. But once he was done there, he wanted to know if they had any real guns his size. So we went over to look at the crickets. Needless to say, they only had pink, but he got the idea. Then a few min. ago, as I was tucking him into bed, he asked when he was going to be old enough to do some shooting. Now he's already shoot a .22 pistol and loved it. As a matter of fact, every time we are up at my parents and we are looking at guns or target shooting, he wants his turn. I have no doubt in my mind that he would blow thru 50 rds, but that is also coming out of a semi-auto that daddy is loading up for him every 10th shot or so. I don't know how he would do with a single shot rifle that he had to load up everytime. I would say he would get tired pretty quick.

I have thrown around the idea of getting an airsoft gun for him to shoot here in the back yard since we live in a sub-division. I think this would be the best idea for him at this point and time. While he may be ready to shoot a real gun just his size, I don't know that I'm ready to break down and buy him one at 6 yrs of age. He's still got a LOT of safety learning to do, and I think that an airsoft rifle would be just the ticket to bridge the gap for a few more yrs.

Mike.....great idea on the spinner's. I remember that I had one as a kid that we shoot with our BB guns. It had three tabs sticking down and once you shot a tab, it would fold up and stick to a magnet until you reset it.

[Guest db99wj]

Seems I remember having a .22 when I was around 11 years old. My oldest son is now 11 and I am working on getting him into shooting. I just bought a .17 Savage I intend to let him try. He seems more interested in shotguns though. I'd love to get him hooked on those and take him trap or skeet shooting. My mom owns a 40 acre farm so we have plenty of room to try different things out at our leisure.

Interesting. Any idea when they hold the classes?

November Class schedule

http://www.rangeusa.com/Training/MonthlyTrainingSchedules/November2007ClassSchedule/tabid/233/Default.aspx

December Class Schedule

http://www.rangeusa.com/Training/MonthlyTrainingSchedules/December2007ClassSchedule/tabid/236/Default.aspx

[Mike.357]

Lets say you have one shotgun. Put it in the living room, leaned against a wall. Don't even have any ammo in the house, so there's no real danger there

I disagree here. There is plenty of danger. Any gun left unattended is a gun waiting to go off. Guns should be safely secured at all times. It does not matter if you have ammo in the house. What is to say that the neighbor keeps his ammo locked up? All it takes is your kids buddy to show it with a few slugs. Think about it.

Also I am not so sure about threating to beat a kid. Not saying I am against a spanking, but I am against using it as a threat.

Air soft is a good idea Boom, I am going to look into that instead of the .22. I am pretty sure there are re-active targets for those too.

Cody, I think it is our duty here to call your high school and warn them about you

[Guest erict]

I started shooting bb guns around age 6 and got my first real gun at age 10 (a single shot NEF 20 gauge). I grew up in an environment like Engloid described and had a 12 gauge by the front door and a Win. 94 in .32 WS in the closet. My brother and I knew better than to touch either of them or else; and there was never a problem in the house with them. I grew up in rural upper peninsula of Michigan (almost zero crime) and my family fished and hunted for most of our meals so it was a common thing to have rifles/shotguns within reach in the house or in the truck. I do agree that this is less than ideal in todays world and I don't practice it in my home but that doesn't mean it couldn't work in someone elses.

I let my daughter start shooting this summer and she is 6 years old. She shot my AR with a .22 upper on it and only shot about 3 or 4 shots before she was tired of it ( it didn't fit her too well). She does like to shoot my Walther p22 though and has put a couple dozen rounds through it and it seems to fit her small hands better. If you're getting a young person into shooting I'd say that it's important to get them a firearm that fits them and start off with something quiet.

If you can get a target that's reactive in anyway (tin cans, food, water jugs, empty hulls, etc.) they will keep alot more interest than shooting at paper. They won't get too discouraged if they see the dirt fly up near the can instead of missing a paper target all together.

[Guest tdillehay]

This is my first post & i'd like to say some very good points. I just wanted to add what i feel is very important at least to me make sure we as adults use the safety rules ourselves in front of the youngsters. mine sure seem to learn better by watching.

[Guest c.a.s.]

I disagree here. There is plenty of danger. Any gun left unattended is a gun waiting to go off. Guns should be safely secured at all times. It does not matter if you have ammo in the house. What is to say that the neighbor keeps his ammo locked up? All it takes is your kids buddy to show it with a few slugs. Think about it.

Also I am not so sure about threating to beat a kid. Not saying I am against a spanking, but I am against using it as a threat.

Air soft is a good idea Boom, I am going to look into that instead of the .22. I am pretty sure there are re-active targets for those too.

Cody, I think it is our duty here to call your high school and warn them about you

They ought be more scared of some of the teachers. Two have HCPs!

[Mike.357]

They ought be more scared of some of the teachers. Two have HCPs!

Those two are the good guys.

And FWIW I think you handle firearms very safely and maturely.

[Guest Engloid]

I disagree here. There is plenty of danger. Any gun left unattended is a gun waiting to go off.

...yeah, and you're gonna tell me how many people get shot with UNloaded guns?

Also I am not so sure about threating to beat a kid. Not saying I am against a spanking, but I am against using it as a threat.

What do you suggest, offering them a piece of candy for each day they don't touch a gun?

[Mike.357]

Eng, did you miss the point about someone else providing the ammo for the gun you left unloaded in the corner?

And sorry I do not believe in threatening a kid, what you suggest has nothing to do with that. Not one time have I ever said "do what i say or else" , i have too much respect for the kids in my life.

[Guest c.a.s.]

Those two are the good guys.

And FWIW I think you handle firearms very safely and maturely.

They are. They are the best teachers in the school. They have the funnest classes (Surprisingly, they both are in Wellness class, Drugs and Nutrition section and PE section), and they are the teachers who understand the student mind better than any of the others (except for my English teacher, he's still a kid in mind).

[Guest canynracer]

Interesting. Any idea when they hold the classes?

they have it at different times, just give em a call, they will let you know whats avail

901-213-4774

[Marswolf]

That sounds like a useful class and the price is reasonable. I wonder if they do a kiddie force-on-force class? I'll bet some "trainers" would if they could make a buck on it.

All this brings up something my wife and I believe. We think people should have to have a permit to produce children that certifies that they can be good parents, unlike 90% of the people I know who have kids.

Just kidding....

[Guest canynracer]

thats funny as hell!!