Posted: 12/27/2013 6:32:37 AM EDT
| At what age would you feel comfortable with your child being involved in firearms training. That also means being around someone else is child at the same time. Training starts out with safety lectures every session and shooting .22's to start out with. |
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A couple of months ago I bought one of those little Savage youth rifles for my 3 year old grand daughter and 4 year old grandson. They've both already fired it. It's pretty amazing to watch the 3 year old matter-of-factly load and unload a little bolt action rifle. She lives with us so she's exposed to firearms and firing practically daily.
One question: Why are they future "warriors"? Wouldn't they really be future shooters? I'd think you'd want to train them in firearms proficiency rather than how to fight with a firearm. |
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Middle schools teach hunter safety courses so I would say 12-13 (7th-8th grade) would be appropriate to teach firearm handling & techniques.
ETA - Dallas Safari Club partners with area schools so you might know some members that could give their impressions/experiences. |
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I'd say it really depends on the child not the age. I had my own rifle and shotgun, kept in my room along with ammo when I was in first or second grade. I've owned firearms ever since. As a teenager when my friends would come over and want to see me guns they left disappointed. Those same people didn't stay my friends very long when they would get their parents guns out and point them at each other and play.
If I were going to start offering youth classes I would probably limit it to twelve and up. I've had a hard enough time teaching 20+ somethings to keep their fingers off the trigger and muzzle pointed downrange. I imagine a group of ten year olds would be a bit chaotic. 
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Quoted:
At what age would you feel comfortable with your child being involved in firearms training. That also means being around someone else is child at the same time. Training starts out with safety lectures every session and shooting .22's to start out with. Depends on the circumstances. I was taken hunting at the age of 3, and was taught how to shoot at 4. At 5 I had a single shot .410 shotgun for squirrel and rabbit hunting. At 6 I had a .22lr chimpmunk rifle. BUT, I grew up on a farm. My father was/is a police officer. I was exposed to firearms every single day, and wasn't allowed to touch them unless in direct supervision until I was 8y old. By 8 I'd run around the farm by myself shooting rabbits and birds. I'm at the point where I'm about to start a family soon, but I am in a completely different boat. I live in DFW now and getting to the farm is a rare occurrence. I don't believe shooting holes in paper gives the proper training for a child. They need to see the destruction that a firearm can cause, the devastation. I was deathly afraid of carrying that .410 around until I had it for about 9mo. My dad not only had me shoot varmints with it, but fruit (watermelon, etc) to see the power that it held. As it sits in DFW right now I'd probably expose my (future) son to guns/hunting at the same age. I'd probably even teach him to shoot. But he wouldn't go unsupervised until much later than I because I don't think he'd have the necessary experience with the limited amount of trigger time he would have available to him. |
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Some people in this thread seem to be under the impression that "firearms training" means "train how to fight with it", not "train how to use it". My first thought was "training them in proficiency", meaning how to operate the gun, learn the rules of safety, etc.
It really depends upon the kid. I've seen 5 year olds with more patience and respect for the gun than adults and that can outshoot some of them. I've also seen 12 year old muzzle sweep people with a loaded gun. Do they have the appropriate discipline to handle the gun properly, not muzzling people or not maintaining proper trigger discipline and patience? If so, do they have the physical strength to handle the gun? Then get them started slowly. Same as for any new shooter. Start them with an airsoft gun or BB gun, and move them up until they want to stop or they're showing lack of control. |
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Do a father son Appleseed shoot. I have done a couple and the father/children in my groups have had a great time. Father's beaming with pride as you see groups get smaller and smaller throughout the day.
N. Texas 2014 schedule is up. Appleseed Information |
| If the involves complete strangers in a group setting - 18 (possibly 17 if the instructor can convince me how they will successfully maintain control and safety at the range). If I personally knew the families and skill levels of the "kids" I might allow a couple of years sooner - but it's doubtful. Live fire isn't the time to discover the lack of discipline, common sense, and XBox hero moves… |
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My kids began informal shooting at around 5. Both killed deer and hogs at 6 and have continued to hunt ever since. We did a great deal of informal shooting between ages 6-9- tens of thousands of rounds a year down range. We have a pretty involved "tactical range" at our ranch using .22's and steel targets that allows movement of several hundred yards. From time to time we move the targets around etc...but they have a great deal of practice in "moving to contact" in various terrain features. They started Appleseed at 9 and still shoot a couple of them a year. At 12 they were doing Run and Guns by themselves and hunting alone from blinds. At 14 and older they are attending formal training courses like any adult and frequently shooting as well as the best shooters-young eyes and trained reflexes are tough to beat.....
By the time they leave for college in a few years they will be better shooters than 98% of the people who think they are shooters. It's funny to watch their expressions as we walk around gunshops and gunshows and they hear people 3-4-5 times their ages talking about what they know about shooting......I have put the time in, spent the money and done my job as a parent. Kids are much more capable than most adults give them credit for these days. It makes me laugh when people talk about "letting my kid shoot at 12 or 14". Really? My Grandad was the man of the house at that age, his father having been killed by a horse, and plowing with a team of mules all day, no, no danger in that at all.....Hell, my dad turned me loose with a tractor and hay rake at 12.... In answering the original question....I'm NOT comfortable around MOST PEOPLES' kids with guns, just as I am uncomfortable around MOST ADULTS with guns that I have little previous experience with. I have a pretty large group of friends and associates that I shoot with from time to time and it's not an issue but I don't think I would be comfortable myself or having my kids around a bunch of kids with guns that I don't know. Not everyone HAS put the time in to get their kid up to speed and many of them these days will fight you if you don't think "Little Johnny is the mostest specialist snowflake of all". I don't put up very well with that kind of dangerous, stupid horseshit. |
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Quoted:
Some people in this thread seem to be under the impression that "firearms training" means "train how to fight with it", not "train how to use it". My first thought was "training them in proficiency", meaning how to operate the gun, learn the rules of safety, etc. Maybe because the thread title is "future warrior training." |