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when my son was about 5 he got his first bb gun. had to cut the stock so he could handle it. Once he turned 8 I got him a 410 single shot, shot gun and a single shot cricket 22 rifle so we could hunt squirrels.
I have taught him gun safety ever since he was able to comprehend. now at age 11 he knows fully what to do when ever he handles a gun to make sure its safe and unloaded. he automatically checks any firearm he is handed and knows not to touch unattended guns like he may find at another persons house. I think a trained and informed child is much safer than one that has been sheltered from guns n things.
For my sons 11th birthday he wanted a browning 22cal 1911 so I cover $500 and he paid the remaining $160. I do believe you have to judge how responsible a child is but most children can learn gun safty. just the other weekend we wennt through about 1000 rounds to break in his new 22 hand gun.
So what are your thoughts and ages you let your child use guns if you have?
My husband and a friend took our son to a gun range for his 11th birthday. We don't keep guns, though, and even if we did we don't hunt. It was more to educate him about gun safety and take some of the mystery out of them.
I've never fired on at an animal, but as I kid I shot a .22 and a .12-gauge at targets some in a gravel pit outside of town. In the Army (ARNG, actually, but Basic and AIT are the same) I saw a lot of firearms use, including weapons familiarization where pretty much everything from a .45 to light anti-tank rockets are fired. And while I was never a tanker per se, I did serve in an armor battalion, so I had to go to tanker school and fired the main bore on an M-60 several times. Thus, I am very familiar with weaponry both small and considerably more substantial.
They're just machines. Machines generally don't interest me.
Anyway, my younger son is interested in hunting, so we went out last fall for the first time in the north woods of Minnesota. Fortunately, he's got a grandfather, an uncle, and an uncle's father-in-law with shotguns who like to do a little grouse hunting in the fall. He was 16 when he went out for the first time.
We don't own any firearms. It's not that I'm opposed to having one in the house, per se (though if I did, it would be stored under lock and key, and the key would be hidden - and since I don't live in a war zone and am not prone to survivalist fantasies, I don't concern myself with notions of fending off an invading horde), I'm just not interested in shelling out several hundred dollars for one when they're available from the aforementioned relatives.
He was interested in it - I figured it was better that I accommodate that interest, lest maybe he explore on his own at some friend's house where some irresponsible parent might have an unsecured firearm.
[quote=ScarletG;40364579]Teaching them to kill squirrels....humm.... I guess you eat them as well?
I am not anti gun....I am not anti ethical hunting for food.
I am against killing just because you can take the shot.
I don't think you are aching your child gun safety...just disregaresponsibleOTE]
to answer your question, yes we do eat the squirrels and I, as well as my son have more respect for animals, then to shoot them without eating them. I have planty of targets to shoot at If we just want to shoot for fun. Like others have pointed out, it is better to induce interested children to it rather than they try to handle them when ever they happen to come across one.
Hunting is very ingrained in most families in Michigan so going out hunting as a child is nothing out of the ordinary. I'd say my son in safer with his firearms than some adults I know. Gun safty is manditory for anyone that comes to shoot with me. I think it teaches my son great responsibility to safely use a firearm. I'm not one to shelter my child from a whole lot so maybe its just me.
My oldest got a BB gun when he was 13. We had so many rules( target only, everybody else had to be up on the deck, a parent had to be supervising, etc) about using it that he quickly lost interest. The next two never showed any interest in guns at all.
I still have my first JC Higgens .22 rifle dad gave me @12 taught me to shoot around 6-7 .
Taught my kids to shoot 4-5 and we went shooting a lot while living in the mountains.
I train a few folk to shoot first timers and single women (co works) that want personal protection.
I use BB guns that replicate the real thing nicely , for teaching an practicing.
If I go hunting it's for food I have no room for trophies nor do I need them. And I make use of every thing ,very little goes to waste . If I feel as though I can't make a good clean shot I don't take it.
I have been with others that seem to feel inclined to shoot every thing that moves ,I disassociate with them.
My property is a safe haven for wild animals unless they are attacking my birds. that's where I draw the line, and I do eat the rattlesnakes I kill here as well.
16-ish. My wife and I have never had a gun, but when my teenage children (M and F) showed an interest in them, we proceeded *very* carefully. They do not own guns but can shoot and have had gun safety training.
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