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Posted by: reconranger
When I was a kid, I use to pick the lock on my dad's gun cabinet and play with the guns all the time. There wasn't any amunition around, however.
My kids have grown up with guns around, and we go shooting all the time. And of course, they have had safety training. The effect this has had on my kids is to remove the "mystery" that guns have for most kids (it's not the forbidden fruit). If they found a gun sitting on the dining room table, they wouldn't even give it a second glance much less want to play with it. Why would they want to mess with it, when they were probably shooting it last weekend? It's just an everyday thing, and no big deal to them.
Of course you have to worry about other kids that may be visiting, so of course the guns need to be locked up or under the control of an adult at all times.
Posted by: MnFriesen
My little brother was givin one of the airsoft pelet hand guns for christmas last year. Saftey is ALWAYS the top priority when it comes to guns. And the best way to ensure saftey is to educate. Both my sister and I have been through the DNR gun saftey certificate program, and my sister never hunts...she hardly EVER picks up a gun actually. I am glad you are teaching them young, when they are still impressionable, and still think that the parents are "cool"
Posted by: ShadyRascal
Both my sons pulled the trigger on a 22 by the time they were 4 years old. With me holding the gun, with my arms reaching around them with their back to my front. They knew right away these things are serious and go bang. Later I would shoot jugs of water and so forth to illustrate effect. There, curiosity satisfied, respect instilled. They are very safe and I have no problems with them ever messing with all the firearms in my house.
I know a gal who's son was killed at age 10 when him and his friends were playing around with a 22 rifle in the house and had an accidental discharge. They were curious kids not knowing what could potentially happen. That's the danger---lack of education. My sons age 11 and 14 know that when a gun comes out at a friends house without an adult there, you haul butt for the door and start making phone calls.
Leave them ignorant and you're asking for trouble. Show them reality and they will be much safer.
Hats off to you Sparky for educating you daughter.
Posted by: ThrashAndCrashUntilItsTrash
Sparky....good job with your daughter, and good post!!!!
"" I was amazed !! She listened and understood better than if I tried to explain it to my wife !! """ LMAO....At times I feel the same way! My eight year old has shocked me on how much she picks up in a short amount of time!
Posted by: tyler711
Very true.
I shot a gun for the first time a few weeks ago, our neighbor was going bear hunting and invited us to come sight his guns with him. I had a lot of fun, and saw how powerful the guns were. They were all black powder rifles, one was a huge kentucky-something wood one, and he had a modern-looking .50 that kicked really hard. He showed us how they work and made sure we followed every safety precaution every time. I had a lot of fun.
Posted by: tyler711
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Originally posted by: Sparky8370
I'm glad to here you had fun. I'd like to see more people get involved and learn how to safely handle them so they don't believe the scare tactics used by the anti-gunners. Once you learn, you realize that the sarety features are so easy that even a 5 yr old can learn the first time around, and when properly handled are less dangerous than driving to work in the morning.
Seems like all fun hobbies are like this, no? Shooting, fourwheeling, paintball -- it's just the idiots that give it bad press.
Posted by: tyler711
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Originally posted by: Sparky8370
Yes most are, hunting included. It's all based on ignorance. Instead of researching these things and finding the facts, people who don't understand or care to find out develop a bad image and spread it around.
If the general public were educated on these matters, there would not be so much opposition.
The fact that the media has to jump onto any bad news or events (to stay in business) doesn't help anyone's cause either. One kid with stupid parents gets hurt on an ATV, everyone hears about it. Same with paintball. Studies show there are less injuries in paintball than there are in PingPong. But stupid kids shoot at cars and old people and give paintball a bad name in the news.
Posted by: tencubed
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Originally posted by: rag253
cudo's to you Sparky8370. your post was very interesting, to many parents out there don't take the effort or time to teach their children firearm safety!!! I am a certified NRA Instructor in pistol & shotgun safety. I have to say you've done a good job of teaching your daughter about safety while handling firearms. Rag253, 06 sprtmn 500 EFI
Yup, I agree. And thank you for taking the time and putting in the effort to become an NRA Instuctor. I would like to put in a plug for all you hunters and shooters to consider joining the NRA and supporting the "Eddie Eagle" and other youth training programs. I have been a Life Member of the NRA for many years and have found these and other programs the NRA offers to be invaluable in training folks of all ages. The most dangerous thing about any tool is an uneducated operator be it a chainsaw, motor vehicle or firearm.
Posted by: CobraR6
Agreed. Shooting is a very fun way to teach someone gun safety. I am only 17, but I have known proper gun handleing techniques since before I can remember. Like you said, I had a bb gun when I was little, then got a .22 rifle for christmas one year. After that came my Winchester 1300 12 ga for a birthday one year. And then for christmas one year I got a Remington 7600 GameMaster 30-06 for deer hunting. Oh and I cant forget my favorite toy I...well my dad cause I technically cant own one... have a Walther P22 pistol with both 3.4 inch and 5 inch barrels. Along with a Red Dot scope. This is a fun toy to plink with in the summer. You would be amazed how often I can go through .22 rounds.
Clay Pigions are very fun to shoot! I always love to go out and shoot some sporting clays. We went to a place called Nemicolin Woodlands this past summer and got to shoot some birds there. You travel around to each station and shoot at a total of 100 birds. This was alot of fun. We have also been to many a shotgun shoot before that, and we also have friends houses that we can go to that can throw just about anything for us. SO if you ever have a chance to go shoot clay pigions take it, because it is some of the best fun you can have.
Posted by: CobraR6
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Originally posted by: Sparky8370
I love shooting clay pigeons too. Me and my brother go to this pit with a couple boxes of pigeons (180) and a couple boxes of ammo (200 rounds). We almost always walk out with ammo and no pigeons. There's a guy that lives by the pit that comes out to watch us. The first time he came to watch it was like the third time we'd gone in a month and a half, so we didn't miss any and most were "one shot kills" He was pretty amazed by that so most of the time we shooy he comes out and watches for 15-20 minutes, and he's not a shooter.Quote
Our church used to have a shotgun shoot each summer. We have not had it in the past coupe years. It was always alot of fun. Have you ever played Annie Oakly? Its a fun game to play when you have a bunch of guys shooting clay pigions.
Posted by: CobraR6
Lol no not in the mirrorBR>
You get a bunch of guys to stand in a line shoulder to shoulder. The first guy will yell pull and he will shoot at the bird. If he hits it, he stays in the game and it is the second guys turn to yell pull. So the second guy yells pull, and he missess so the third guy takes a shot and he missess too. So the fourth guy takes his shot right before the bird hits the ground and he breaks the bird. Since the fourth guy hit the bird he stays in, and because the second and third guys missed, they have to get out of line. You continue going down the line, until you get to the end. Then you start over at the begining of the line. You keep playing until there is only one guy left. This game is alot of fun to play, especially if you are the one that gets 3 guys out with your one shothehe
Posted by: CobraR6
My family has been Proud Members of the NRA for many years. I personally am not a member as of yet, but when I turn 18 you can bet I will be joining for myself.
Posted by: Sparky8370
I am very proud of my daughter. She woke up from a scary dream the other night, and came down stairs just after I had reassembled my glock after doing a periodic break down and inspection. I told her "You know not to ever touch that right ?" Her reply was "Dad, you know those kids that you tell don't go in the road or something and they do anyway just to get a ball or something ?" I smiled and said "Yes" She said " I'm not one of those kind of kids ." She has a hard time listening to a lot of things, but always seems to get the important things, like this, right.
She asked me if it was loaded. I showed her the magazine and explained that when you pull the slide back and release it, it puts a bullet in the chamber. I showed her a bullet when I was explaining this and told her when you pull the trigger a pin hits that "little silver circle". I could see I had her full attention and she was very interested. So, I broke the gun back down so she could visualize and I explained the entire process to her. And I mean entire. I explained how the rifleings work, case pressures- how the propel the "end of the bullet" down the barrell and cause the slide to recoil and chamber another bullet, every piece of the gun apart during a normal field strip. She was hanging on to every word, and appearing to understand. The firing pin was the last thing I was explaing to her. When I said "You see that little thing in there ?" She responded "Oh I know!! Is that the thing that hits the 'little silver circle'?"
I was amazed !! She listened and understood better than if I tried to explain it to my wife !! I don't know how much she'll retain, hopefully most of it. I got her a BB gun when she was 4 or 5. I only had to go over safety procedures once. Only once !!! I was assuming as we were shooting it I'd have to keep reminding her, but nope. She would keep the barrell pointed in a safe direction, put safety on (or confirm it was on), cock it, aim it without putting her finger on the trigger, take safety off, fire, then put the safety back on before moving out of her firing position. She would still confirm safety was on before cocking, even though she knew she just put it on. I was amazed then too. After the first couple times I asked her to explain everything she was doing as she was doing it, she didn't miss a thing. It was different as far as hitting the target, she almost never hit it the first couple times we shot it. Then I gave her the eye test to see which was the dominate eye, and even though she's right handed, she's left eye dominate. After I got her shooting left handed she did a lot better.
When I was her age, my Dad taught me gun safety too and even had us (me and brothers) hand loading .44 magnum rounds. He usually added the powder himself, but sometimes let us do it under direct supervision. We would take the old primers out with the rockchucker, boil and bake the shells (he didn't have a tumbler), put new primers in and crimp the projectile in. He explained the whole process to us. We knew exactly what each part of the process was accomplishing.
My point here, is that we need to teach our childrenfirearm safety. Whether you have children or not. And if you don't know firearm safety, or only think you know enough you should take a course. It's not enough to simply tell them "You never touch a gun." You never never know when they may come in contact with a gun. You are not with them 100% of the time, and it could be anywhere. As evidenced in recent history, that place could even be in school. The more they know and understand, the less likely they are to have an accident.
Shooting with your kids is a great way to spend time with them and teach them about safety, responsibility, discipline and consequences. I don't mean consequences of being bad, I mean consequences of pulling the trigger. They will see the damage to the targets and understand what's happening.
Sorry about the long post, just thought this was an important thing to discuss and this is a great place to share it.
Posted by: Sparky8370
I'm glad to here you had fun. I'd like to see more people get involved and learn how to safely handle them so they don't believe the scare tactics used by the anti-gunners. Once you learn, you realize that the sarety features are so easy that even a 5 yr old can learn the first time around, and when properly handled are less dangerous than driving to work in the morning.
Posted by: Sparky8370
Yes most are, hunting included. It's all based on ignorance. Instead of researching these things and finding the facts, people who don't understand or care to find out develop a bad image and spread it around.
If the general public were educated on these matters, there would not be so much opposition.
Posted by: Sparky8370
I love shooting clay pigeons too. Me and my brother go to this pit with a couple boxes of pigeons (180) and a couple boxes of ammo (200 rounds). We almost always walk out with ammo and no pigeons. There's a guy that lives by the pit that comes out to watch us. The first time he came to watch it was like the third time we'd gone in a month and a half, so we didn't miss any and most were "one shot kills" He was pretty amazed by that so most of the time we shooy he comes out and watches for 15-20 minutes, and he's not a shooter.
Shady, I believe that as a parent it is our responsibility to teach our children proper gun safety and handling whether we own guns or not. It would prevent un-necessary deaths due to un-educated children, and un-educated adults that could have used a little training and respect instilled in them at a young age.
Posted by: Sparky8370
You mean with the mirror ? LOL no I've never done that.
Gun safety was definetely taken seriously at our house when I was a kid. I got one of those CO2 guns and me and my cousin were checking it out. I was going to put it away and he pissed me off so I poked him in the @ss with it. It had not even had any CO2 in it yet, they bought the gun but no CO2 or BBs. My dad asked me what the F I thought I was doing. I told him I was just poking him and it didn't even have CO2, then he smacked me in the head and kicked me in the @ss and told me it's a real gun and I'm to treat it as one.
Posted by: MarkFiddling
I have a gold 12mm Desert Eagle. Carry it when I go fourwheeling.
Posted by: rag253
cudo's to you Sparky8370. your post was very interesting, to many parents out there don't take the effort or time to teach their children firearm safety!!! I am a certified NRA Instructor in pistol & shotgun safety. I have to say you've done a good job of teaching your daughter about safety while handling firearms. Rag253, 06 sprtmn 500 EFI
Posted by: rag253
You don't have to wait until you turn 18. The NRA has Jr. memberships!!
