Do your kids...

[SavageEagle]

know you have guns? If so do they know how to use them? How old are they?

I ask because I had a revelation in the shower... I do my best thinking there... Ok, here's a situation.

3am your family and you are sound asleep til you hear an intruder in your house. (Alarm, breaking glass, dogs, etc.) You wake up, grab your hand cannon and go investigate. The intruder is ready for you and knocks the gun away. He has a knife and while you struggle to neutralize the threat here comes your child. Said child see's your gun on the ground and picks it up.

Here is where my question lies. Does your child know how to shoot? Did the child even know you had a weapon? If so to either question, can your child shoot the gun to save your life? Even a warning shot should be enuff to stop the struggle if not long enough to allow you to escape the threat and retrieve the pistol or neutralize the threat yourself. Can your child even squeeze the trigger? I.E. does it have a 500lbs trigger like the Sigma? Does it have a grip safety like the XD? Just a good question to pose on here I think.

Personally, if you are going to have guns I think the kids should know and know that they are off limits. I also think they should know how to safely handle them in case they run into one a a friends house. Thoughts, comments, questions? No badgering! LOL

 

[strongcrow]

My kids, 15 and 16 have their "own" guns, (which are locked up, ..Ilearned from ME as a teenager) , and know how to use them. I think they could shoot to scare, not to neutralize, however. Enough to stop an altercation enough for me to take control of the situtation. My wife however would not be able to do the same. So I would need to count on the kids to help save my life.

 

[Pami]

I've heard nothing but good things about the Eagle Eddie program:

Eddie Eagle Safety Program

 

[SavageEagle]

My kids, 15 and 16 have their "own" guns, (which are locked up, ..Ilearned from ME as a teenager) , and know how to use them. I think they could shoot to scare, not to neutralize, however. Enough to stop an altercation enough for me to take control of the situtation. My wife however would not be able to do the same. So I would need to count on the kids to help save my life.

My oldest are 9 and 6. I think maybe the oldest is ready, but certainly not the 6yo. I have introduced the oldest to my softair pistol and showed her how to safely use it, hold it, and what not to do with it. I doubt she'd pick up the gun in that situation though. My fiancee might but I have my doubts.

I've heard nothing but good things about the Eagle Eddie program:

Eddie Eagle Safety Program

I've been looking into it. Also looking into the Boy Scouts programs on shooting too. I know they're girls, but with my father and I's Scouting background I'm sure we could pull some strings. Eddie Eagle looks like a really great program though and I think I'll put the oldest through it next year if i can.

 

[BloodEclipse]

My daughter (16) knows how to use every gun in the house, including her Rem 870, Marlin 60SB and AR, and regularly shoots them at the range with me. My wife also is knowledgeable is the use of all our firearms. I feel comfortable that if they had to use them in a stressful situation they could.

 

[SavageEagle]

Ok let me ask another question. How old is the proper age, maturity not withstanding, that a child should know how to shoot a weapon?

 

[Mini-14]

I got my kids involved in shooting at a early age. They knew i had guns and I taught them the do's & dont's. One of my daughters was shooting a M1A when she was about 7 or 8 yrs old.

 

[melensdad]

know you have guns? If so do they know how to use them? How old are they?

My daughter has 2 rifles. One is a Ruger 10/22 the other is an Olympic Arms AR15. She knows how to use them. She has fired many of my guns and has been instructed on how to use each. Could she pick up a gun, fire it and save my life? I think so. But I'm not sure how mentally prepared she would be for that, most children don't think of such things.

Ok let me ask another question. How old is the proper age, maturity not withstanding, that a child should know how to shoot a weapon?

My daughter has been shooting for a little over a year, she is now 13. I wish she had started at about age 10. She is very mature for her age, top of her class in grades, etc. She could have handled it at a younger age.

 

[SavageEagle]

I've seen some of the posts you've put up with that ar. Our oldest loves it! LOL I planned to start her off with my old pumpmaster 760 pellet gun. Figure that's how I started out, might as well go with what I know. Now I just need a place to go. LOL I ain't trying to go to a shooting range for a simple BB gun!

 

[spasmo]

My daughter is 9. She has her own little pink wooden .22 cricket. She doesn't really have an interest in shooting right now. She'll go to the range with us. We've let her shoot our Walther P22 as well. She likes the little laser on it. The rest of the guns we have are too loud for her ears. She prefers to sit inside the shop and play her DS while we practice.

Would she pick up a gun dropped by the intruder? Only if I told her to. Would I? Probably not. That's a lot of pressure on a little girl. Would she be able to hit the guy? Actually, I imagine she could because she's a pretty good shot with her rifle. If the gun is more than a .22 though, she would probably end up hitting the ceiling .. hehehe..

She has airsoft guns and also a paintball gun that we let her play with outside. She likes that when a friend can play with her. At the range, it's just her, her dad and me so she's bored. If a friend could go, then she'd probably have a lot more fun. Her friends and their parents however do not know we have guns and we want it that way for now.

 

[SavageEagle]

Well then lets get together and all go shooting! LOL I can have my mom watch our other kids and we could all go. My fiancee, tinkerbell, needs the experiance also. She's not on here too often, but she could really use the encouragement.

As far as the child picking up the weapon, you're right, it would be an aweful experiance but also consider that an intruder in the house struggling with mom/dad would be aweful enough in its self. That's why I posted the question to see what kind of response I would get. Personally, even without them having shot a weapon I would probably still have them pick it up. If nothing else but to keep it away from the intruder.

That being said, I guess I'm trying to gauge whether or not I should introduce our oldest to rifles yet. Rifles seem the best to start with from my own experiance be it a Pellet gun or a 22.

 

[melensdad]

I've seen some of the posts you've put up with that ar. Our oldest loves it! LOL I planned to start her off with my old pumpmaster 760 pellet gun. Figure that's how I started out, might as well go with what I know. Now I just need a place to go. LOL I ain't trying to go to a shooting range for a simple BB gun!

Well her AR is being DuraCoated now, I hope to get it back soon. It will be silver/pink very shortly.

As for training the kids, I can only tell you what I did. We had several indoor lessons in my den before our first shooting trip.

Lesson #1 started and finished with my little Ruger 10/22 sitting in the corner of the room. Neither one of us touched the gun, but she sure wanted to. The goal of that lesson was to learn the basics of gun safety. You know, all guns are loaded, never point the muzzle, never put your finger on . . . we went over each of those things until she could repeat them back without prompting. We talked a reasonable amount about killing things, destruction of property, accidents, etc. The lesson probably lasted 20 to 30 minutes?

Lesson #2 started with the gun still leaning up against the wall in the corner. She had to recite all the safety rules before we would begin lesson #2. When she did that I went over and picked up the rifle and while I held it in my lap, I went over all the gun parts. Simple things like explaining the difference between a barrel and the muzzle, showing how to operate the safety, explaining common terms like chamber, magazine, bullet, cartridge, etc. I showed her how to load the gun, although I inserted an empty magazine to do it, showed her how to unload, etc. But the gun stayed with me. The lesson ended with her telling me all the gun parts, and repeating the safety rules.

Lesson #3 started again with the gun in the corner. We went over the safety rules again, she had to tell them to me and explain them before we could continue and she had to do it without prompting. She knew that these things had to be 'second nature' before she got to handle the gun. So after repeating all that stuff I went over and got the gun, handed it to her and she promptly spun it around so the muzzle was pointing right at me. I actually expected that. I grabbed it away and asked her why she pointed the gun at me??? I was NOT mean about it, but it certainly drove home a point about being muzzle aware. I gave her the gun back and we went through everything again. She got to shoulder the gun, look through the sights at birds out the window, etc. Lesson #3 ended with her reciting the safety rules yet again.

Lesson #4-a we packed up the gun, ammo, a dozen magazines, etc and headed out to the bean field that makes up our back yard shooting range. I had targets out there, had a shooting bench, etc. The downside is that it was 95 degrees and humid and the bugs were all over us so it was actually a short session.

Lesson #4-b was a better version of #4-a. I was better prepared. First, we sprayed down with bug spray before hopping into the UTV to drive out to the bean field. Second we put the spray with us. We also loaded up about a dozen 10/22 magazines with 22s in the comfort of the air conditioned house. Remember you are teach children and if they are uncomfortable then they will not enjoy the event! At the 'range' she was actually fantastic. No safety violations at all, she was really in tune to things. She was far more comfortable shooting from a rested position. I have a steel resetting arcade type target set up at about 75 feet from the bench and we had a blast.

I would recommend several things. Start simple. 1 type of target. But when the shooting session progress then bring out different targets. Take out a dozen raw eggs. Fill up paper dixie cups with flour. Blow up some balloons. Print out targets with cartoon characters on them. Make it fun for them. And eventually get some TANNERITE, I cannot stress that enough. It is the most fun thing you can shoot ever.

OH, ONE OTHER THING. GET REALLY GOOD EAR PROTECTION. My daughter loves to shoot, is not afraid of recoil but absolutely HATES the roar of a 223 or a 308 or even a 45acp. Seems that is pretty common. So be aware that noise is often as big, or even a bigger factor, than recoil.

If we want to preserve our rights then we need our kids to help us defend them.

 

[boilergonzo]

Nope. Our daughter is almost six. We have had the "see a gun, get dad, mom, police, or another adult" (in that order!) talk many times.

She is not aware daddy has guns, and has no reference to cause her to connect the safes with guns (or jewelry, or valuable paperwork, etc.)

I wonder what age is appropriate (and I know some will say diapers, some 18!), and will read with interest what others have done. Based upon MY daughter, we are not at a level I feel it is appopriate yet, but am willing to consider all advice from those with experiences (good and bad).

 

[SavageEagle]

If we want to preserve our rights then we need our kids to help us defend them.

I like the lesson plan. Pretty much what I was thinking minus the fact that I live in town. And you are right, unless we introduce them to guns as early as they are ready and make it fun for them, we may lose our rights to our kids which is why I so want them to understand what we all already know.

Nope. Our daughter is almost six. We have had the "see a gun, get dad, mom, police, or another adult" (in that order!) talk many times.

She is not aware daddy has guns, and has no reference to cause her to connect the safes with guns (or jewelry, or valuable paperwork, etc.)

I wonder what age is appropriate (and I know some will say diapers, some 18!), and will read with interest what others have done. Based upon MY daughter, we are not at a level I feel it is appopriate yet, but am willing to consider all advice from those with experiences (good and bad).

Our kids don't know yet either minus my airsoft pistol and my BB gun which is at my dad's since i have only a drawer safe for my pistol(which is in limbo at the FFL)(Damn Brady Act). But I believe the sooner they know about them in general and the sooner they understand safety the more mature they may become. I've yet to test this, but I'm hoping it helps us out in our situation...

 

[Shay]

My son is not yet three and I recently starting training him with an airsoft pistol.


Yes, he knows I own guns.

 

[Lock n Load]

Yes, they know they are in the house (safes) and i do teach them gun safety at a very early age too.

My teenager (15 going on 25) learned to shoot archery at about age 3, has hunted with a recurve since about 10 or 11. i started him off with a 10/22 and a MKII at about 5 years old. He also went in the woods on hunting trips with me for a couple of years prior to attending hunter safety at age 10.

He has his own Bushy AR15 and is very safe at the range, around the house etc.....

Our 5 y/o daughter is learning about what to do if a firearm is "sitting" aroung unattended etc.... much like what is taught in the NRA Eagle Eddie Program. She has fired the 10/22 and loves the Tippman paintballs guns.

I am a firm believer that evryone in the house should learn firearm safety, and that each adult should have a permit if there are handguns in the house and transported in vehicles.

 

[esrice]

I have a two-year-old boy. He knows I have guns. He calls them "Daddy's bang bangs". He also knows about "Pappaw's bang bangs".

Keeping things simple, he says "Daddy's bang bangs -- NO NO". And he'll shake his little finger at me, lol.

We'll keep it there for a while. Later we'll move onto BB guns and .22s.

 

[munky_3434]

all mine are aware where the guns are stored, but not the ammo. not that a 4 year old is VERY likely(not ruling it out) to manipulate the slide on a 1911. all are aware what they are and what they are capable of. i'm raising them the same way my dad did me. if they are curious, ask and i'll show them everthing they want to see/ know. that and i started them with paintball guns years ago as an initial way to teach them trigger=bang

worked for my dad and works for me.

 

[Jeff]

My two sons are aware of my guns and have been instructed on how to use them. With that said, they are not particularly interested in them.

 

[AllenM]

My daughter shooting my 12 ga and AK She's 19