Firearm Training for Children

[SeventyOne]

I started shooting when I was eight years old, my dad got me into the NRA firearms safety class at the local gun range and we were there at least half the Sundays between then and the time I was about seventeen. It was a great experience, and set me right on issues of gun safety at a VERY early age. I remember reading about kids getting shot because they were showing off their dad's guns to their friends, and being mystified by the idea. Guns were old hat to me, it was like, I dunno, would they drag out the chain saw to show that off too? Or their mom's butcher knives? I knew where all the guns were and had easy access to them all, and yes, they were all loaded. But why the hell would I drag them out to show my friends?? Totally lame.

This is exactly one of the reasons I want them to start shooting and becoming familiar with guns. When guns become familiar to them and the safety around them as common knowledge, they will become much less likely to treat them with fascination, and see them more as the tools they are.

 

[ChavaK]

I think the age depends on the child and the parents. There is a local police officer who is a firearms instructor and a competitor, and he started his kids shooting with airguns at a very young age. After they got experience with that, he switched them to .22's.
The youngest one is now 8 years old and now uses a centerfire and competes in speed steel and USPSA, and is amazing. I can easily see him being a national champion someday.
So it worked in this case, no problem. Other children may not have the adult supervision and education that is required to oversee them, or they may not be mature enough. You as the adult will have to judge that.
I will say, if they have no interest, don't force them. Nothing you can do more to drive a kid away from something than to make them do it.

 

[Aldebaran]

Bc if there is a firearm in a home that has children, it should always be kept properly locked away, out of their sight, out of their reach. I've heard enough horror stories about toddlers finding guns & shooting themselves or others. A child should not be handling a gun.

This is true if they don't have proper instruction. It depends on the age and maturity of the child. If you're talking about the typical 4 or 5 year old, then I agree. But 15, 16 or 17 year olds are quite different (yet are still children by definition). They are on the verge of becoming adults, and are usually ready at those ages to start learning things that prepare them for adulthood. If a firearm is something that is to be "kept properly locked away, out of their sight, out of their reach" from the time they're born until they move out of the house, then what is that teaching them? If you want a child to learn proper instruction in something, whether it's firearms handling or anything else, they have to be taught at some point. Teaching them to fear the unknown because it was caused to be unknown isn't teaching responsibility.

 

[Cimorene]

This is true if they don't have proper instruction. It depends on the age and maturity of the child. If you're talking about the typical 4 or 5 year old, then I agree. But 15, 16 or 17 year olds are quite different. They are on the verge of becoming adults, and are usually ready at those ages to start learning things that prepare them for adulthood. If a firearm is something that is to be "kept properly locked away, out of their sight, out of their reach" from the time they're born until they move out of the house, then what is that teaching them? If you want a child to learn proper instruction in something, whether it's firearms handling or anything else, they have to be taught at some point. Teaching them to fear the unknown because it was caused to be unknown isn't teaching responsibility.

Of course it depends on the age & maturity of the child. I liked Mark R's posts about gun safety regulations here in Canada. I think they're sensible. Sure, a teen is way less likely than a toddler to have a fatal accident with a gun, & is far more capable of learning how to properly use 1 than a young child. I still think that all guns should always be kept properly locked up when not being used by the registered owner. The father of the freshman who shot & killed students at his HS in WA before killing himself was arrested & convicted bc it was his gun that was used.

 

[Aldebaran]

Of course it depends on the age & maturity of the child. I liked Mark R's posts about gun safety regulations here in Canada. I think they're sensible. Sure, a teen is way less likely than a toddler to have a fatal accident with a gun, & is far more capable of learning how to properly use 1 than a young child. I still think that all guns should always be kept properly locked up. The father of the freshman who shot & killed students at his HS in WA before killing himself was arrested & convicted bc it was his gun that was used.

I agree about them being "properly" locked up too. It just seems that when people talk about them properly locked up, it usually refers to having them always locked up and out of reach as if the parent has no trust for the child. But I think that if the child, whether 10 or 17 years of age, has proven him/herself properly trained and mature and responsible, the firearm doesn't always need to be locked up away from them. I've read accounts where a teenager in the home managed to fend off home invaders who had managed to get into the home and subdue the parents. Obviously, that is a case where the parents taught their children well and knew they could trust their kids to do the responsible thing.

 

[Cimorene]

I agree about them being "properly" locked up too. It just seems that when people talk about them properly locked up, it usually refers to having them always locked up and out of reach as if the parent has no trust for the child. But I think that if the child, whether 10 or 17 years of age, has proven him/herself properly trained and mature and responsible, the firearm doesn't always need to be locked up away from them. I've read accounts where a teenager in the home managed to fend off home invaders who had managed to get into the home and subdue the parents. Obviously, that is a case where the parents taught their children well and knew they could trust their kids to do the responsible thing.

It's not just about the people living in the house but anybody who comes into the house. Like with that shooting back in the 90s in Arkansas where 2 young boys murdered people at their school, all the guns used were the grandpa's. I'm sure the grandpa totally knew how to use guns & I doubt he was worried about anybody living in his house not using them properly. He never would have imagined his grandson stealing the guns & using them to murder people, but that's what happened. That boy was from a stable family, & had been using guns since he was 6. So the grandpa probably felt safe not having them locked up. That was an enormous mistake on his part.

 

[Aldebaran]

It's not just about the people living in the house but anybody who comes into the house. Like with that shooting back in the 90s in Arkansas where 2 young boys murdered people at their school, all the guns used were the grandpa's. I'm sure the grandpa totally knew how to use guns & I doubt he was worried about anybody living in his house not using them properly. He never would have imagined his grandson stealing the guns & using them to murder people, but that's what happened. That boy was from a stable family, & had been using guns since he was 6. So the grandpa probably felt safe not having them locked up. That was an enormous mistake on his part.

I'm not familiar with the story, but if this boy stole his grandpa's gun and went to school and murdered people at school, I wouldn't say he was from a stable family. But I agree with you about securing guns in the home against anyone who would enter, and not just untrained children.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

You're making this out to be WAY more than it is. To get a non-restricted licence takes a weekend, and the "testing" is honestly a joke. For restricted... the "course" is like a 1/2 day of someone telling you not to sweep people.

Firearms only have to be locked up when not it use. The purpose of this is to stop other people from stealing them. When in use, technically speaking, a non-restricted firearm can be open carried in Canada as long as it's unloaded.

No, they can not be open carried; where did you get that idea?

 

[Tetra]

No, they can not be open carried; where did you get that idea?

The RCMP on the transportation of non-restricted firearms...

The ONLY requirement is that it must be unloaded...
"Non-restricted firearms must be unloaded during transportation"
Storing, Transporting and Displaying Firearms - Royal Canadian Mounted Police

There is no requirement for trigger locking, or for covering. If you have a non-restricted firearm, technically when transporting, as long as it's unloaded, you can do as you wish. As someone who doesn't own a car by choice, I have biked my rifle out to the farm without incident. This would be open carrying my rifle.

Unless you can show me otherwise, the only stipulation is unloaded.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

The RCMP on the transportation of non-restricted firearms...

The ONLY requirement is that it must be unloaded...
"Non-restricted firearms must be unloaded during transportation"
Storing, Transporting and Displaying Firearms - Royal Canadian Mounted Police

There is no requirement for trigger locking, or for covering. If you have a non-restricted firearm, technically when transporting, as long as it's unloaded, you can do as you wish. As someone who doesn't own a car by choice, I have biked my rifle out to the farm without incident. This would be open carrying my rifle.

Unless you can show me otherwise, the only stipulation is unloaded.

Sorry, you are correct, I misread "restricted".

This is not the topic of the thread however; so this whole direction of discussion is off topic here.

 

[GeorgeJ]

Just an observation: from up here, I note that while many religious conservative people are all in favour of introducing weapons training to teens, some religious conservatives suddenly become somewhat shrinking violets when it comes to teens receiving tattoos, even in states where state laws allow it with parental permission.

I've noticed everything is about tattoos with you. Can you please NOT talk about your tattoo fetish in this forum?

 

[GeorgeJ]

staff edit

This thread is about responsible firearms training for children, not how many kids have been shot at shooting ranges.

Please take your input somewhere else. Looks like you've already broken at least a couple of this forum's guidelines.

 

[Darkhorse]

Another good source for young people's firearm education is 4H. Many areas have gun classes and competitive shooting as a 4H activity.

You can find out about 4H in your area from the County Agricultural Agent (sometimes called the Agricultural Extension Agent).

 

[Tetra]

I've always thought this video was fantastic on teaching kids to shoot.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Bc if there is a firearm in a home that has children, it should always be kept properly locked away, out of their sight, out of their reach. I've heard enough horror stories about toddlers finding guns & shooting themselves or others. A child should not be handling a gun.

I'm Canadian so I guess it's likely that I would agree.

 

[Aldebaran]

You have a point about children being bombarded with fantasies; and then there is the possibility that weapons not kept under lock and key will become part of their fantasy.

They can become a part of it, but if the child is taught well enough and has the maturity to know right from wrong, fantasy won't spill over into reality. Trust me, I was bullied in school from elementary school through High School. I had fantasies about bringing a gun to school. The only one I had access to was a BB pistol, which I imagined at the time would do real damage since I never had fired a "real gun" to know the difference between a BB gun and a firearm. Of course, I never ended up shooting anyone with it, but at one time mentioned to a teacher during a time when I was super depressed that I was thinking of either carrying the BB gun, or committing suicide. That got me into trouble, and eventually kicked out of school. You can read all about it in my blog entry if you want. Ahhhh, those were the days! I don't think I ever heard of an actual school shooting in all the days I was in school. Thankfully, that started happening long after I was done with school. It's amazing how low things have sunk.

 

[Tetra]

I'm Canadian so I guess it's likely that I would agree.

Please don't clump us all in together, I'm Canadian and I disagree.

Nothing wrong with children handling guns under supervision... and the Canadian government supports this position, hence why there is no minimum age limit.

 

[Darkhorse]

You have a point about children being bombarded with fantasies; and then there is the possibility that weapons not kept under lock and key will become part of their fantasy.

I don't think it's quite that simple.

When I was a kid, American TV was full of Westerns, usually involving gunfire. "Cowboys and Indians" was a popular format for play.
Plenty of people owned handguns, and they could be bought sight unseen, by mail, in every state except New York and California!

But (as others have mentioned), school shootings were unknown.
Parents disciplined their kids. Schools disciplined their kids.
The neighbors watched each other's kids, and parents heard about anything that was out-of-line.
Punching a bully in the nose was considered "justice", not "violence".

It wasn't ideal. Accidental shootings happened. Around 1900, one of my uncles accidently shot and killed his brother (they were kids). That's why my mom kept the long guns unloaded. And she made sure all her kids understood gun safety.

But it was much different than today.

 

[Aldebaran]

When I was a kid, American TV was full of Westerns, usually involving gunfire. "Cowboys and Indians" was a popular format for play.

Now that term is considered either racist or politically incorrect.

 

[Aldebaran]

I play the cello in a quartet & sometimes will sing or play the piano. Most often at weddings. Sometimes at other places too, like I've played for a veterans group a few times.

Cool! That's pretty neat! I never learned to play any instruments myself. Always wondered what that would be like. I can sing, but not good enough to allow anyone else to hear me doing it.