INuhBadNayburhood’s Recommended Introduction of Firearms to Children:

There are seven (maybe more) important steps in regards to introducing your children into the fun sport of firearms marksmanship.

1. Age/Maturity.  This is critical to the development of a responsible shooter.  Wait until the children can discern the difference between right & wrong, and reality & fantasy.  If your child is able to figure out the difference between movie violence/shooting, and the real consequences of such actions, then they may be of reasonable responsibility to learn to shoot.  Obviously you, as parents, should make certain that your children know that it is not socially acceptable to shoot and/or kill another human being.  My recommended age for teaching firearm safety/operation to children is between 4 and 6 years of age.

2. Proper Armament.  Many people I have seen simply run out and buy a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic .22 with which their children are to learn safety.  I do not agree with this decision for a child’s first firearm.  I would recommend a single shot youth model .22 LR bolt-action rifle.  Semi-auto rifles such as the Ruger 10/22 do not teach proper accuracy traits to children, rather it teaches children that they do not necessarily need a perfect first shot as they could quickly fire a second follow-up shot.  This is not good practice, especially if they were to hunt later in life.  Studies have shown that those who train with single-shot rifles become far superior marksmen than those with semi-automatic rifle based training.  Also, only having a single shot rifle really decreases the statistical liability that the child will fire the rifle unsafely, this is due to the fact that there is only one round per loading to take responsibility for, rather than ten which can be fired in rapid succession.

3. After purchasing a rifle for you child(ren), take it to the range by yourself in order to properly break in the barrel/action and properly sight in the rifle.  Make absolutely certain that the rifle is sighted perfectly, this is VERY important.  If your child cannot hit anything due to a problem with the rifle’s sights, your child will be discouraged, and become bored quickly.

4. Before you even go to the range for shooting, make sure that you take one or two hours to teach your children about how their rifle works.  The stock, sights, action, safety features, everything.  Teach them proper safety and handling before you even leave the house.  Let them practice safe handling & operation of the action with the unloaded rifle in the house, that way when you get to the range, range officers will not scold you for your child’s questionable behavior.  Make sure that before you go shooting that you also have eye & ear protection for everyone attending their first shoot.

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5. Use Reactive Targets!  This is one of the most important things in training firearms usage to children.  By allowing them to shoot at reactive targets, you are making the experience more enjoyable, thus instilling a desire to go shooting more in the future.  This could include saltine crackers (they break & also make a good snack, obviously the shot crackers should not be eaten), free AOL CDs, gallon milk jugs filled with water, tennis balls (fun to watch it skitter in front of the backstop with each shot, but make sure you teach them to beware of ricochet), and large inner-city telephone books (this way your child can see how far their .22 or other rifles can penetrate several pages).  Use your imagination; if you were little, what would you like to shoot?

6. Do not bring more than two firearms to your child’s first shoot.  Bring the rifle for your child, and also bring one more.  Make sure that before you ever let you child fire another rifle that you take the time to teach them the safe functioning of everything on that rifle while it is unloaded.  This will keep your child focused on their own rifle, and since it’s their *OWN* rifle, they will really love it.  Hopefully they will develop the proper respect that all firearms deserve.

7. First teach them how to use the standard iron sights on their rifle, and only let them use iron sights on their rifles until they become very good marksmen with their rifle’s original sights.  Then later you may add an optical scope to their rifle.  If you do, however, make sure that you use see-through scope rings so their iron sights are still available for use.  Just as with the iron sights, make sure that you set the scope perfect before letting your child(ren) use the rifle, or they may become disappointed.

These are my personal recommendations for teaching children about firearm safety and handling.  This will instill proper traits of marksmanship, safety, and most importantly: RESPONSIBILITY.  If you can think of anything else you’d like to add to this feel free to do so.

Thank You!

-inuhbadnayburhood

[Edited actually for formatting purposes]

Great advice KBaker!

Also, perhaps bringing out some picnic supplies, soda (pop here in MN), sandwiches, water (for drinking & for washing lead/powder off hands), and other things.  Perhaps this will even get your womenz to come try shooting too...  You never know.

-inuhbadnayburhood