All my kids new the stop, walk and tell rule from when they could walk. I plan on getting the last one, my son, a bb gun in the near future. He is 7 now and I was thinking around 8 years would be a good point to start.
Sooner they know what to do the less interested they are. It is curiosity that kills most kids with guns, not malice.
I bought my 7yr old a 10/22 for his birthday. My 5yr old daughter can recite the 4 rules of gun safety (including the bonus 5th rule: Don’t shoot daddy). And all my kids know the difference between toy guns and real guns and what to do if they come across a real gun when they are not shooting with daddy.
Totally. I was taking my kids to the range since they were five (maybe 4, I forget). They can both handle and fire a gun safely. My son at 15 hunts and participates in shool trap shooting, but neither of them are particularly interested in guns for guns’ sake. Guns to them are roughly equal to any other tool around the house. When you need one, you use it. Otherwise it’s out of mind.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:09 am
All my kids new the stop, walk and tell rule from when they could walk. I plan on getting the last one, my son, a bb gun in the near future. He is 7 now and I was thinking around 8 years would be a good point to start.
Sooner they know what to do the less interested they are. It is curiosity that kills most kids with guns, not malice.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:45 am
I bought my 7yr old a 10/22 for his birthday. My 5yr old daughter can recite the 4 rules of gun safety (including the bonus 5th rule: Don’t shoot daddy). And all my kids know the difference between toy guns and real guns and what to do if they come across a real gun when they are not shooting with daddy.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Paul – I agree. Take the mystery out of a gun and you take the curiosity out of a child. http://tinyurl.com/c7jvpo Thanks for the link, Uncle.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
“Take the mystery out of a gun…”
Totally. I was taking my kids to the range since they were five (maybe 4, I forget). They can both handle and fire a gun safely. My son at 15 hunts and participates in shool trap shooting, but neither of them are particularly interested in guns for guns’ sake. Guns to them are roughly equal to any other tool around the house. When you need one, you use it. Otherwise it’s out of mind.