My 12 y/o stepson wanted to shoot the other evening, so we headed out to the yard and setup a few 25 yard targets.  My 6 y/o son has wanted me to teach him to shoot, so we plinked with the .22's for a while.  Quickly getting bored with that, we brought out the ol' Hbar and a dozen 20 oz bottles full of water.  After seeing what they did on impact, my 6 y/o quickly asked, "Can I shoot the AR?"   My son is 46 inches tall and 52 pounds.  I told him no, but he begged so I had him sit right with me at the bench when I touched one off.  I figured the noise would scare him out of the idea, but it did no such thing.  I finally showed him how to sight through the rear ring and went over the basic operations, such as safety, trigger control, etc.  (Did I mention he is 6 going on 17?)  

I had him at the rest (he had to squat on the bench), and, while I held the rifle with one hand on the stock by the charging handle (keeping his face from getting too cloce to the rear sight) and my other hand on the butt of the rifle, he put his arm over the stock, resting his armpit on the top of the stock.  He leaned his head down, aimed through the sight and let it rip.  He managed to hit the backstop, but didn't quite get them in the 10 ring.  He touched off about a half dozen rounds.  (Slow fire, of course.)

Half an hour later, his stepmom comes home and he wants to show her that he can shoot the "AR".  We set him up about ten yards from the backstop and put a gallon jug full of water up for his target.  She watched from the safety of the deck as he took his time aiming, flicked off the safety with his left hand and squeezed off one round.  What followed was absolutely priceless...

He hit the jug dead center, exploding water for about 20 feet in every direction.  He stood up, eyes all huge and yelled, "I did it!"  This was followed by a high five and big hugs.  He has the remains of the jug as his trophy.  Now, he forgot to put the safety back on when he jumped off the bench, but I guess I'll let it go this time.  have
B

Nothing wrong with letting him try something new, like shooting your AR. Every american should at least shoot it once.

Agreed. My first time shooting was a .38 S&W when I was about 5, and I turned out...ahhh nevermind.

Your making a 6yo a black rifle addict! LOL!

I personally think that was great.

I feel a big mistake parents make is sheltering kids from the things that could hurt them. It's important to slowly and gradually teach children the proper respect and proper use of firearms. And I think you took a good first step.

Of course, gun owners who are themselves careless will pass bad habits to their children, however, responsible owners who teach their children properly will do more for gun saftey then any Brady Bill could ever do.

If enough parents took the right approach to gun ownership and teaching their children how to handle and fire guns correctly, the next generation will be all the better for it.