My daughter was 6 , started with a ruger 1022
Loaded single shot for about 1 month, then let her rip with a 30 rd. mag. Nows she's 18 ,,just got out of HS and is on her way to Baylor on a baylor presidents free ride. (Makes me want to slap her momma evertime I think about it.) Ain't noway that kid came from my loins. Anyway start em young and teach them that people kill people,,not guns.

I bought my first daughter a .22 rifle for her 9th birthday. It has since been used with the other three daughters, at ages as young as seven. Age versus maturity is a subjective thing. My youngest is now 12, and has been my constant companion to the range for the last four years. She is very recoil concience, and won't try anything over 9mm.The other three, ages 21,19,and,15, enjoy.357 and .45acp,but draw the line at .44mag. My brother brings his 5 year old son with to the range, and he is now using the same .22 rifle to teach him safely.  

My daughter is 6 months old and will have her NRA bib very soon.

My "1st Princess" will be 7 and has requested a Marlin 15YS ( the bolt-action single-shot in stainless ).
She also was doing her Kindergarten homework...(yeah, I know; what's up with THAT?)...and said when she 'grows up', she wants to be a "Police Officer"!  I'm very proud of her.
Mom ain't happy about another 'acquisition', but, the kid and I are cooking up a plan.
I kinda feel like Vic Mackey; makin' things work...[;D]

The "Littlest Princess" will be 5 and hasn't really shown an interest yet.  Maybe after Big Sister has a shiny new rifle of her own...

I have drilled the Eddie Eagle mantra into them ever since they were 2.
This thread reinforces the idea to keep at it.
Thanks.

My dad taught me how to shoot when I was about 5 or 6.  My first shot was from a Marlin 30-30 my grandfather had given me.  

I have a 4 year old son and a 5 year old son. Back in November 2001 I bought my first handgun, and safe. My wife was not to happy about the hole thing especially after I got my concealed weapons permit in January of 2002.

She adimitly told me that on no uncertain terms will she allow me to carry around her and the kids, I never knew how anti-gun my wife is.Must have been all those years at Oregon STate University, and listening to the media. It was amazing her defense againts guns. Sounded just like all the liberal garbage you hear.

Well that changed over about a 5 month period. I strategically emailed her articles about crime, always questioned do you think this person would have gotten hurt,raped,mugged or killed if they were carrying a concealed weapon. I emailed her articles that I found about were crime was stoped becasue of someone carrying a concealed weapon. Plus the terrorist warnings that we got just recently about that it will be just a matter of time before some musilm extremist staps on a suicide belt and walks into somewere and blows themselves up and everone else around them, my wifes tune changed. Especially since about a few months before this I had told her the very same thing, she said I was a paranoid gun extremeist. Well lets just say she had some humble pie, and know I carry anytime I go anywere with her and the kids.
So what this made me need to do is begin to teach my kids about gun safety, especially when there dear old sweet dad is carrying. Back in March I think ,I had my 5 year old son try to climb on top of my gun safe to get some candy I had put there so both of my kids would not get to it. Well I had to put a stop to that because I told him that he could not try to climb on top of my gun safe for many reasons.

So I took both my boys out to the woods, on the way I bought some tomatoes,apples,and a cantelope. Upon getting to the most favored shooting spot, I had them sit down behind me and watch the various fruits I bought, and I shot at the fruit. Well when the bullet hit the fruit, it was a show. At first my kids thought it was cool. Then after they were all done with that, I sat them down and explained to them both that guns need to be handled very carefully because this is what can happen if someone were to get shot, the tomatoe and the cantalope were the best visual aids. 9mm 135 grain federal hydroshocks do the trick.

Well point was very well taken. I told them that a gun is a tool to help keep you safe. I said that people do bad things and that when some people do bad things they use a gun to do it. I said that when someone gets hurt by a gun, it is usally because someone did a bad thing with the gun,or someone needed to stop someone from hurting them with a gun. I said that the gun is not the thing that is doing the bad stuff, but it is the person doing the bad stuff. I emphasize all the time that daddy carries a gun to keep himslef, and them, and there mamma safe.

Know both of my boys come out to shoot with me whenever I go out to the woods and shoot, which is about once a week or so. They chase brass for me. They especially like to chase my AR15 brass.

My 5 year old son is begining to show more maturity and is beginning to understand the basics of gun safety. So I think I will be starting him out on a bb gun,or a 22lr rifle her pretty shortly. My 4 year old needs to wait a little longer, since he just turned 4 in May. I quiz both my boys on a weekly basis about gun safety.