Since Hawaii schools do ZERO firearms education (i cant find a kid that i know from k-12 that has ever had a firearms conversation/safety talk at school) I regularly talk to my Child (shes 7) about guns and gun safety. She understands that they are tools, that guns arent dangerous (she told me today that people with guns are dangerous tho) but should be respected and handled correctly/safely. She can give me the 3 rules of firearms safety for kids (stop. dont touch, Leave the area and tell an adult ) and recite the NRA range safety rules. She regularly plinks with me in the yard with air-soft guns and i cant wait till shes old enough to hit up the range with me.

What age did you talk to your kids about firearms, What did you teach them, What age did you take them to the range and any other advice you would give a a parent.

Had the talk with my son at 5.

Since then he has once attended and listened through a 4-hour Range Safety training with me, handles archery quite well and operates the 10/22 by himself.

I talked to my niece and nephew when they where about 4 or 5 YO.  Mostly to quell any mounting curiosity.  My wife was sitting them one day when I got home from the range, so while I was cleaning and putting away I talked to them about it.  Supervised, I let them hold and handle the rifles and pistols I had out at that time.  I let them know that these are NOT TOYS, and ANYTIME they wanted to see them, they could let me know, and I will gladly bring them out and supervise handling the firearms.  We spent at least 45min to an hour talking about things like the trigger and not placing your finger on it, where never to point the barrel of the weapon, etc. (no ammo anywhere around of course)

I think that many of the problems that kids encounter with guns is that they are treated as 'taboo' or some kind of wicked device that needs to be hidden from sight and never touched.  Of course curiosity will dictate they need to 'sneak a peek' to discover what this is all about.  'Accidents' happen this way.  I NEVER deny a request to view and handle the guns from the kids.  Also, this is the perfect time to teach the respect and proper handling of the firearms, while you have a captive and attentive audience.

I look at it like kitchen knives.  All the people I know never lock up their kitchen knives inside of safes, yet I don't know of any of their kids accidentally stabbing themselves or siblings.  Generally kids don't bust open drawers and start playing with kitchen knives a lot, why, because adults have probably taught them that they are not toys, but dangerous tools for specific uses, they are not really curious about them because they see them daily, and in common use.  Does these types of accidents never happen?  They probably have happened, but it is most likely not the norm.

Now I am not saying to not lock up your guns....   of course you are going to secure the tools when not in use and under your close supervision.   I am just saying that quelling curiosity can go along way towards safety.   

All of this is IMHO, so this is just from my own experience.

I let them see and touch my unloaded glock when they were about 3 and 5. This made my wife, who doesn't much like guns, oddly proud of me. Now that the kids are 4 and 6 I should probably give a refresher. I often ask them what to do if they find a knife or gun laying around as a quick quiz. They are getting to the age I better start warning them of predators too.

They are getting to the age I better start warning them of predators too.

Just get a big dog for each child.


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4 thru 6 years old when my son got his first Nerf guns.  He was taught about firearms safety rules and basic safety.  He could recite the 4 safety rules and understood what they were in concept and how to practice them.  He would go in and out of the low ready even when the dogs came around him, very cute. 

At age 6 thru 7 I picked up 2 of the fully licensed all metal KJW Sig Sauer airsoft pistols.  If you don't know them, they are correct and function exactly down to the parts.  He needed to learn the 7 fundamentals of marksmanship, be able to field strip, know the nomenclature of the main parts, reassmble and do a full Sig Sauer dry function check before being able to shoot it.  He shot like a natural.  Neat how kids have no prior bad habits, so what you learn them, is what they know. 

At age 7 or so, it was funny the first time at the gun show for him, he shot at the hunter safety arcade booth.  We signed the safety form and the guy did his job and explained how to hold the gun and some safety stuff.  He asked if my son understood some of the safety stuff and my son rattled off the safety rules.  He was handed the Glock laser pistol and my son went into a mod iso, thumbs forward grip and began to clean the game like it was nothing.  He almost hit the top 5 scores.  The guy just said "WOW, who taught you how to do that?"  My sons reply, "My dad".  It was a proud moment.

At age 8, I picked up another members MK III .22 pistol from the classifieds and he was shooting this pistol and a 10/22 rifle and doing it like a seasoned pro.  At this time my daughter was 5 and started her learning process.  Eddie the Eagle was a favorite cartoon of theirs.

At age 10, my son progressed into shooting his own AR (built it for him for his 5th birthday) and his own Glock 19 and he shoots these regularly to this day having just made 12.  My kids have always understood the safety and have always been allowed to handle anything if they asked.  I work on weapons and shoot them professionally so they are always around.  They are a tool on our properties and my son carries a pistol on our Big Island properties everywhere for protection from pigs and stray pit bull hunting dog packs that roam the area. 

There is zero mystery associated with firearms and they are a normal part of life.  They fully understand what they are capable of doing to a human and we have removed any natural curiosity that a child will have about an item if denied the availability.  We should not only child proof our firearms, we should also gun proof our children.  It only makes common sense.   

 

It's been a while. .....I think I started my kids shooting bb guns at around 5 or 6.
I remember taking my kids to kokohead when they were 7....it was allowed back then.
My memory is a little fuzzy. Fyi, my oldest son just reminded me that he will be retiring from the AF in 3 years. Yikes!
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Personally, I was shooting mongoose with grandpas .22 when I was 7.

Mine just took to it naturally:

4 thru 6 years old when my son got his first Nerf guns.  He was taught about firearms safety rules and basic safety.  He could recite the 4 safety rules and understood what they were in concept and how to practice them.  He would go in and out of the low ready even when the dogs came around him, very cute. 

At age 6 thru 7 I picked up 2 of the fully licensed all metal KJW Sig Sauer airsoft pistols.  If you don't know them, they are correct and function exactly down to the parts.  He needed to learn the 7 fundamentals of marksmanship, be able to field strip, know the nomenclature of the main parts, reassmble and do a full Sig Sauer dry function check before being able to shoot it.  He shot like a natural.  Neat how kids have no prior bad habits, so what you learn them, is what they know. 

At age 7 or so, it was funny the first time at the gun show for him, he shot at the hunter safety arcade booth.  We signed the safety form and the guy did his job and explained how to hold the gun and some safety stuff.  He asked if my son understood some of the safety stuff and my son rattled off the safety rules.  He was handed the Glock laser pistol and my son went into a mod iso, thumbs forward grip and began to clean the game like it was nothing.  He almost hit the top 5 scores.  The guy just said "WOW, who taught you how to do that?"  My sons reply, "My dad".  It was a proud moment.

At age 8, I picked up another members MK III .22 pistol from the classifieds and he was shooting this pistol and a 10/22 rifle and doing it like a seasoned pro.  At this time my daughter was 5 and started her learning process.  Eddie the Eagle was a favorite cartoon of theirs.

At age 10, my son progressed into shooting his own AR (built it for him for his 5th birthday) and his own Glock 19 and he shoots these regularly to this day having just made 12.  My kids have always understood the safety and have always been allowed to handle anything if they asked.  I work on weapons and shoot them professionally so they are always around.  They are a tool on our properties and my son carries a pistol on our Big Island properties everywhere for protection from pigs and stray pit bull hunting dog packs that roam the area. 

There is zero mystery associated with firearms and they are a normal part of life.  They fully understand what they are capable of doing to a human and we have removed any natural curiosity that a child will have about an item if denied the availability.  We should not only child proof our firearms, we should also gun proof our children.  It only makes common sense.

that's an awesome story
you da man, surf
 

that's an awesome story
you da man, surf
 

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I agree. Good job.