What age to start them shooting?

[bruno2]

Mine are teens now . I started my boy out shooting 22's when he was about 7 . I would shoot AR and a 223 bolt gun while he was shooting . He waited until he was about 8 before he asked to shoot the bigger stuff . I always shot with him so he would get used to the noise and concussion . I started my little girl out at 8 . She doesnt like rifles , but , will shoot and abusive hand gun all day . Between my wife and daughter they shot 450 rds of 38 spec out of an airweight and about half of them were +p stuff in a short afternoon while I was shooting trap . I went back to help them pack up and thought they were sitting on the bench b/c they were tired of it . I said where is all of the ammo ? They replied we shot it all up about 30 minutes ago . That trip was expensive , but , nobody ever tells me when to stop .

I plan on starting the grand kids out pretty early . I hope neither of them marry an anti b/c thats going to cause problems .

[Usagi]

My two year old daughter gets to see / touch unloaded pistols and rifles from time to time.

My Five year old son gets to go shooting from time to time. He has a cricket .22LR rifle.

Both do so with close supervision.

[Interceptor_Knight]

My 7 year old has been introduced to shooting a .22. My oldest started shooting regularly at age 10 and now a few years later has attended 2 Appleseeds and shot deer at over 200 yds...

[jeepmor]

I put my two year old behind the scope yesterday and it held his attention for about 5-10 seconds, and that was it. When it came time to fire, sticks and stones were much more important and he got back to them.

[Doc Nonverbal]

I'm making rubber band rifles for my girls this year. They're 5 and 3 years old. I bought them Nerf guns for Christmas and we've been discussing gun safety with them. So far, so good.

I hope to start my oldest with a .22 when she's about 8. Maybe sooner if she's really interested.

[sniper5]

I was started as soon as I could pick one up. And safe handling began before that (don't touch, don't stand in front of one, they are not toys, etc). I didn't understand why at the time, but even if I didn't go on that particular hunting trip, I was the one who carried all the rifles into the house, while being watched like a hawk. Then around 8 or 9 always going on out in the afternoon with my grandfather hunting deer, always with my .22 (unloaded for a while with the ammo in HIS pocket). Then at 10, hunter safety and by 12, walking up the street in the afternoons by myself to pop a rabbit or 2 for dinner (we lived in a rural area).

Got 2 boys, both grown now. Oldest grew up on an archery and rifle range. Used to pay him a quarter a round to pull the string on the trap. Mom was an anti but tolerant and used to get a kick out of him at 3 pulling on her pants and saying things like: "Ears, mom, ears" when he saw bolts closing. And "Mom, you need to walk here so you will not get shooted."

Not too interested in shooting himself until 13 and asked me to teach him how to shoot pistols. Did that for a while, about 2 years, until it turned out to be too much work-I used to shoot competitively and I'm a bitchy coach. The other one never developed any interest, and that continues to this day.

Over the years, my wife's viewpoint gradually changed. She found out that gun control was pretty stupid, guns were just machines, gun owners were not nuts, police were not "all that", and about 2 years ago started being interested in trying out shooting. Now she is a total range rat and owns a GP100 and shoots several of my military rifles, is a pretty good shot, and thinks her revolver is "pretty" and "loves it".

I guess the message in all this is that it's never too early to start, never too late to start, and its better to wait until an interest is there instead of forcing it on.

[cuba]

Hi you guys I might get criticized for the way I introduce my children to fire arms but it worked for me, I'm 53 years old and raised 5 children my first was a girl and the second two boys the last two girls.

In the early 80's while I was at the range shooting targets the range master came up to me and asked me if I had children, I said yes ( my daughter was 1) I asked him why he asked and he said that he was going to give me some advice that would be contrary to everything I had heard before.

He said did I remember when I was a child getting burned with the stove, I said yes, then he proceeded to tell me that as soon as my children were strong enough to hold my 1911 to make them shot a magazine through it at a gallon of water and that I would never have to worry about them playing with my firearms, because the impression that the fire power of my gun would imprint in there brain would last forever, just the same way that I never touched the stove again,

He also told me to never buy or allow anybody to buy them toy guns as gifts because guns are not toys and the impression left by the awesomeness of my 1911 blowing up the gallon of water they would never forget and that they would never simulate a gun with a toy.

He also told me to teach them gun safety because it would be inevitable that some friend would show them there parents gun in an unsafe method and knowing gun safety would safe there lives, Rule #1 a gun is always loaded until you safety check it, 2# never point a gun at anything you don't intend to shot,3#always check whats behind your target.

One day my son went over a friends house while his parents were not home and his friend brought out his fathers rifle to show it off and the first thing out of my sons mouth was check it to see if it was loaded and his friend did not even know how so my son quickly took the rifle from him and opened the bolt and found that the gun was loaded and unloaded it and told him that guns are not toys that he had put his life in danger and that he would tell me as soon as he saw me.which he did and I called this boys father and said a couple of things to him about gun safety. my son was pretty upset about it he told me when his friend walked into the room he was pointing the rifle at him.

The way I see it is if my son glamorized guns like the movies do and would have been ignorant of gun safety and seen the rifle as a toy there very well could have been an accident in that instance.

I think that if your not going to learn gun safety or teach your children the same you should lock your guns up

But for instance I live in a forest area thats where I raised my children and I always left all my guns loaded and accessible to them in case some thing happened while I was at work so that they could defend them selfs or our animals.

I think that in a modern society there are some laws that don't make any sense like your firearms should be locked up or where your kids can't get to the ammunition well in the case with the parents of my sons friend case I agree. but in a free society you should have the right for your children to protect them selfs when there parent is not there for them. I read some where, that Theodor Roosevelt tried to pass a law that children be trained in firearm shooting and safety starting at the junior high grade I agree with that.

My children never touched my firearms with out my permission, and always had respect for them because, at a very young age I introduced them and they knew the power behind a bullet and a gun, when there grand parents would buy them toy guns for birthdays or Christmas I would return them and tell them to buy them a real gun like a 22 rifle, needless to say they thought I was of my rockers, for even having moved to the country.

All 5 are marksman it seems like the girls are better rifle shooters, I hope they carry the tradition onto there children.

Cuba

[Aaryq]

I plan on BB Guns/Airsoft at almost 5 and .22LR at 5. The good thing about having 3 girls is that if one loses interest in guns, I still have a pink rifle for the next...once I buy it.
I plan on putting a target at the safe end of the living room (no windows no TV) and setting up a range. Between the dogs running around and little girls (oldest just turned 4 in FEB) running around, I'll be able to gauge a lot of safety for her. And if you ask, I'll be using an empty BB Gun so you get the noise but not the impact. Once she proves safe, I'll clear the downrange area and let her practice. When she gives me a warm and fuzzy with a BB Gun, we'll get the Cricket. It's comign so soon, less than a year and my oldest girl will be shooting!

Oleg, if you ever feel like stopping by...lol