[Wingman709]

Hi everyone,
I have a question regarding kids and guns. I am going to attend a gun show today and wanted to take my seven year old with me. Figured it would be a good father/son outing. My wife is against it and feels the kids should not be around guns. I think it best to teach them about guns from the start and do it the right way. First learn about them and how they are NOT toys.
He will not be shooting a gun, just walking around the show with me. He will of course learn that I own a gun which he currently is not aware of. But I see no harm in that as it's locked away in a biometric safe. So he can't get to it.
What do you think? Is seven to young an age to learn about guns?
Thanks for your input.

 

[talon21c]

the sooner the better, when a kid understands what guns are and what they can do the more they respect firearms, my children started around that age going to the range and better teenagers for it, make you wife go with you and make it a family outing.

 

[jchristian79]

I just bought my first gun. I have 5 kids myself (8, 6, 3 and 1 yr twins). The best advice I got from a couple different people was to show them right away when I brought it home. I sat my 8 ad 6 yr olds down with it (unloaded of course) and showed them all the different parts. I showed them how to hold it, how to check if it was loaded, etc. I taught them the basic rules (assume it's loaded, always point in safe direction, etc.). I told them, this was the only time they were ever allowed to touch it and that after this point, they are to never try to open the safe and get to it.

I spent about 25 minutes with them going over everything and then after quadruple checking to make sure it was unloaded (and locking any live ammo in the safe) I let them handle it. They got to hold it, try the slide and even pull the trigger. This was all in an effort to take the mystery out of it.

I plan on taking my 8 yr old to the range sometime this year to start getting him familiar with shooting.

My 3 year old had a far less hands on experience although i did sit him down as well. When the twins get older they will get the same.

This may be more than some people think is necessary for kids, but I feel that the more educated they are the better. And there's certainly an element of trying to alleviate some of the mystery and curiosity.

My gun stays locked in a bio safe at all times. No chance of a ccw for me here in CA either. If we ever move to a different state and I do get a ccw I will probably give them more training and hands on time with it.

 

[crainer1207]

My 5yo goes to shows and the range with me. He is getting his own 10/22 for Christmas. IMO it depends on the kid and how mature they are and if they are able to follow the "rules".

 

[cce1302]

Your kid is SEVEN and you're just now starting to talk to your wife about kids and guns????

It's probably not too late for him, but I don't think there's such a thing as "too young to learn about guns." We talked about this in a thread earlier this week. Kids learn to do all sorts of things at a very early age. When I was young, parents were teaching their kids to swim before they could walk (yeah things were a little weird in the 80s). Kids can draw, color, choose their clothing and dress themselves, ride a bike, dribble a basketball, make toast, vacuum the floor, clean the bathroom, all sorts of things. Why not learn to shoot when they're young?

All 3 of my kids (6, 4, and 3) understand the 4 weapon safety rules and can show an empty chamber on their bolt .22 rifle. All have shot it. They never touch any of my firearms without my explicit permission.

 

[shark52]

Seven is not too young.I started taking my son to the skeet club when he was 3 or 4. Bought him a BB gun at age 5, a single shot 22 at age 6 and a single shot 410 at age 7. Now 33, my son still remembers the safety rules and respect that I taught him.

 

[Smoov]

I would say sooner the better.

My mother taught me this just this week. I was coming down the stairs with two shotguns to take to my Uncle to be sanded and cleaned. My nephew was at the door in the kitchen and was like "wow those are cool guns" and I said they aren't guns they are toys. Stupid stupid I know but I froze because I didn't want him to know anything about them. My mom instantly said "no they are real guns and they can hurt you if you play with them." She grabbed one and showed him it. Taught him a little bit about the gun.

I thought that was pretty cool especially since my mom dislikes guns.

 

[Bigcarlover]

My son is 6 years old and we just bought him his own gun. Ok, it's a pellet type, but he is in training. It stays locked in the Barometric safe and we have to be with him for him to use it. We have a target setup (no random plinking at objects).

We treat it as a real gun (after all, you can still do damage). He wears safety equipment, has learned how to safely carry it. Knows to always treat it as loaded. It's a great tool to teach him. I drill the rules into him each time we go out.

He needs to be taught to respect them. He needs to know they are not toys, they are dangerous and must be handled very carefully. And once you satisfy his curiosity he'll be less likely to be drawn to them in a playful/careless way. Keeping him ignorant to these facts is more deadly IMO.