I know a guy through work that has a 15 year old son who wants to try shooting guns. I teach LTC classes locally but have never thought someone so young. I’m a little reserved about if I want to do it. I know nothing about the kid and never met him before, if I do I would require a parent to be there too and review all safety procedures. After talking with the father it seems the son just wants to try a few guns but doesn’t want to get a license in the future, (unless I’d be able to convince him otherwise by showing how fun it is).

I can see it two ways, I could direct someone new into the firearm culture, or I could be putting a gun into the hands of a random dangerous kid.

What’s the opinion of Arfcom?

That one is tough, seeing as you do not know him. I think I would lean toward teaching him how to handle weapons safely.

Why wouldn't you?

Teach him safety and handling in the classroom, then take him out with a 22lr, and start off with just one round in the magazine. If the first few shots go well, put two in the magazine and make sure he doesn't bump-fire it. From there, have at it! Step him up through calibers as appropriate so long as he continues to display safety.

The more and younger we can get people into guns and shooting, the better. That way, they wont' have any money left over after new parts and ammo to mess around with drugs and hookers.

I would teach a 5yo to shoot

Definitely teach the kid how to shoot.
And teach the father how to safely store the guns !

My 13 year old has shot USPSA when he was 11 and now practices for precision rifle.  He's got 3 deer under his belt, many birds, and absolutely respects the fact that they are tools.

My 9 year old daughter has been shooting since she was 7.

I would try to get the father to get trained at the same time. Then they can go shoot together.

This

If he's mature enough, sure.

Youth rifle starts lot younger 10 ~ 12.  Then the criteria is if they can pay attention long enough.

I think you being educated at safe handling and shooting would be an excellent choice to teach this young man.

Because if you do not teach him, he will learn somewhere else and might not get the "safe" part of the education.

Solid advice.

I would rather teach most teens how to shoot than many of the adults I have taught.  Hammer into his head muzzle and trigger discipline.

Around here males that don't know how to shoot and are 15 are... well just weird!

I think you've been watching a little too much TV.  Provided you now the dad and there are no obvious red flags, why not? In a year the kid is going to be driving a car.

I owned my own shotgun at 8 and rifle at 9.  Was given proper instruction and never had a problem.  Hell when I was a kid they hung in a gun rack on my bedroom wall with a drawer full of ammo.  I had full access after folks determined I could handle them safely and wisely.

This.

Maybe hold off on saying "yes" or "no" and just stick with firearms safety until you know his personality enough to know if it's a good idea.

Much better idea really.

Heck, that could be a good policy too - no unaccompanied minors etc?

If the dad has his head on straight, it could be great.  As in any other sport, watch out for the dad wanting to live thru his kid's accomplishments.  I've run into a couple that just about guaranteed the kid would not enjoy the shooting sports as an adult when given a choice.

I would. He doesn't get to touch the gun until I think he is ready. Plenty of teaching to do before the actual shooting.

Learning about firearms is sort of like putting someone into a martial arts class where they learn dangerous black belt techniques before they have demonstrated the judgement, maturity, discretion, and respect for other people first.  If I knew the parents and kid were squared away I would do it.

Each kid and parent is different.  15 years old is plenty old enough to learn firearms safety and shoot from a bench with me at the kid's shoulder.  General safety and marksmanship is vastly different than teaching someone more "advanced" information.

currently in the early phases of teaching my 6yo to shoot so....

Too young?  My son was shooting deer at 10. I was shooting doves at 7. Around here, nearly all 15 year olds are hunting if they desire.

I don’t have an issue with the age as I have a young nephew who is learning and has been since he was 6. It’s more of the fact that I don’t know him and only know the father because he works for a customer of mine.

The mother called me today and after speaking with her and the father I will be doing a safety class for the kid and father.

Thanks for all the advise.

I would want to get to know the kid first. His mindset, what inspires him etc.

Is this recreational or a source of empowerment?

I would start with a revolver and bolt/lever action rifle just to gage response.

A true firearms enthusiast loves burning powder in any shooting iron.

In addition to my comments in your other thread, I started on a high school rifle team at age 15, and the only reason it wasn't at age 14 is I was originally a high school that didn't have a rifle team.  I had access to my father's pistol starting when I was 12 or so, and had been shooting a few times with him with .22's.

I've had a kid as young as a 14y/o girl successfully complete both my live fire CQB Fundamentals course and my Tactical Pistol Fundamentals course. I frequently get parents, especially ones that have been to my courses, that contact me about attending. I just ask them if they think they are mature enough to undertake consecutive 8 hour days of instruction.

The approach I take is to remove age, gender, background from the equation and hold all students to some simple qualifiers:

1- Can the student SAFELY conduct the training?

- This is normally done through direct observation. All the training I do is building block approach and has numerous "safety gates" a student will have to demonstrate before moving on to a next step. Interestingly- it has only been adults that have had any safety issues....

2- Can the student absorb and apply the instruction?

- Most of my courses are at least 8hrs/day for at least 2 consecutive days. The material moves very quickly and builds off the previous instruction- so you can't tune out for one block and perform in the next. Honestly, this is the area that concerns me most about youth in classes. They have to be mature and calm enough to pay attention and follow instruction for a long period of time. To this date, this has only been an issue with ONE kid. Actually, he wasn't a kid- he was 19, but he was attached to his mother's hip the entire time and wound up being a no-show for the 2nd day (his mom called me and told me he was just too tired to get out of bed). Overall, this is probably an unfounded concern that I have, since over the years- I have noticed NO tendency for young students to display and trend that is different from any other age group here.

That's pretty much it. Over the years, I have not noticed any commonality between age groups with trends in courses. Most of the time we pre-judge students based off of societal views that are really unfounded. A lot of the pre-conceived concerns I had when I first started teaching have since been invalidated.

A good example of my concerns being proven wrong was the 14y/o girl attending my CQB fundamentals course. Even though I had her in my pistol course and was impressed with her performance (she ran a full-size 9mm), the CQB course requires rifles and body armor. This is a live fire course. My concerns were more of physical strength. Wearing plates all day is difficult if you aren't used to it. The nature of the training also means that you are holding your rifle up for long periods of time and constantly raising and lowering it. I spoke with the father about this several times and he was also concerned (he attended the course with her as a father/daughter weekend). On my recommendation, I built her a lightweight AR-15 with a 14.5"barrel, skeletonized handguard, minimalist buttstock, etc. We kept off anything unnecessary like foregrips, lights, even iron sights to keep the weight down.

Turns out we were both sexist.

She smoked the course and outperformed most of the men (mix of civilian, mil, and active LE). In fact, she didn't start slouching or displaying any back/shoulder discomfort until after the men had.

So, now I don't care about their age. I just tell them the expectations, as I do any other student.

If this were 1990's I wouldn't hesitate to teach a 15 year old kid, but is there any legal problem you could be facing in the future if he just happened to be one of those kids and you were the guy that 'trained him' ?
I might check the kid's facebook or whatever other social media he's on. At that age, all of their thoughts etc are usually posted on social media.
If he's a well-rounded kid and the parents are pretty normal / good friends etc. I'd probably say yes or point him to a few youtube channels I subscribe to, or send him off to Appleseed.
Go with your gut feeling on this in my opinion.
I've met plenty of great gun people, and others that made me pack my gear and leave the range.

My son learned to shoot when he was 11, CZ 452 rifle, vz58 5.56mm rifle and he is now over 18, and is very happy with his GSG STG44 22lr. He'snot big into shooting, just enough to hit the steel, for fun, but he learned firearm safety before he learned how to use electronics.

My Daughter at 15
Video getting ready for first USPSA match
Now 16 she had moved on to shooting an AR and Benelli shotgun.

I taught my kids to shoot at around 10 or 12.

At 16 I gave them a Remington 870 pump.
At 18 I gave them an AR15.
At 21 I gave them a handgun of their choice.

My daughter shooting the Glock 19 at 16 yo.

Each kid is different.  I didn't start shooting till I was 11 at BSA summer camp in 76' and range was always full of boys.  Been with a gun daily since then.  Taught my boys and grand kids when they were 3 yo.  At 7 yo they were shooting ARs.  Kids are easy to teach as they absorb the info and are there to learn.  Those that are forced to attend training ie non combat arms, generally don't want to learn.

CD

Hard to say with someone else's kid, and even more so if you don't know them.

My son was 14 when we moved to the US. I decided that I had two options, teach him to shoot and handle guns myself, or let some other 14 year old kid do it for me.
We ended up all (wife, son, myself) going shooting every week, since it is something that male/female, young/old makes no difference.

I think it was a success. The Marine Corps took over where I left off and gave him training in all sorts of nice toys.

A neighbor's kid wanted to go shooting. I took him once (.22, indoor range). He did ok, and enjoyed it. Probably too much. His anti parents wouldn't let him go again when he told them he enjoyed it.

About 10  years late...

I started my daughter at 5...

Ltc means License To Carry, right? Since he's years away from being able to get a license, I'd probably suggest a simple firearms safety class. "He wants to try out a few guns", is that something you do in your class? The class I took you had to bring your own gun, but it was at a range that rented guns. I'd say you gotta pay to play, go to a range with rentals.
Does his father know anything about guns or own guns?

I'd do it. The father sought you out because you know what you are doing and know how to teach. This would suggest he thinks his kid is mature enough to handle the task.

Absolutely. Kids are remarkable in their ability to learn if you engage them with enough genuine enthusiasm. Started my son shooting when he was six, and he took to it instantly. He's not as into it as I am, but he learned safety and handling before anything else, and at 22, he is one of the safest, best shooters I know (a proud father's bias notwithstanding).

Here he is at eight years old. He still casts a covetous eye upon the Polytech. He will probably end up with it when he finishes his Air Force MOS training later this year.

I'll teach 12 and up.  With parental consent of course.

My daughter is seven months old, planning to teach her as soon as she can comprehend.

This.

My boys shot rifles at 4. They’re teenagers now and have never had anything but impeccable range manners. They keep the freezer so full of meat I barely hunt anymore, myself.

A stranger’s kid? Doubtful. If it was someone I knew well, maybe, but under the condition that the first safety violation would be the last (same rule I used with my kids, same thing my father told me).

Generally, though, I only shoot with family.