Poll: Teaching children to shoot guns

[MeatMachine]

Gun culture is a very controversial issue, and nowhere is it more prevalent than here in the United States. Even more controversial is the introduction of children into the equation, and the extent to which (or whether or not) children should be introduced to the topic at all.

I, myself grew up with a military family, and likewise was surrounded by armed citizens at all times - both in uniform and on duty, and in civilian attire while off-duty. I was an active member of the Boy Scouts, and was taken on several expeditions where I got to do a lot of adventurous things that might make other parents wince nervously. Though I was given a whittling knife, bow and arrow, and firearms on several occasions, I was carefully monitored and walked through step-by-step the critical importance of proper technique and safety procedures, all in a very safe and controlled environment. (I should emphasize that the firearms in question were typically low-caliber, bolt-action rifles that are among the easiest weapons to handle; I was never given an Uzi or a S&W500 or anything significantly unwieldy).

Just out of curiosity, what do you guys think about this? I'm kind of surprised by the number of shocked expressions I get when I casually say that taking kids out shooting could be a fun bonding exercise that teaches valuable lessons.

 

[tippy2k2]

If our country is going to continue to need to fire guns wildly in the air in order to get a boner, then at the very least we can teach kids how to safely be around the stupid things.

So yeah, I'm all for gun safety and if you're going to have a gun in your house, the very very very VERY least you should do is teach everyone in the house gun safety, including the children. I don't think it's necessary as a general education thing (though I wouldn't be against that either) but if you own or handle firearms regularly, I frankly feel like it's irresponsible NOT to teach the children in the house how to handle them safely.

 

[PapaGreg096]

I say 11 or 12 should be the minimum for a kid to use a gun

 

[JoJo]

I'm going to cop out and say it depends. Living in the UK, I'm naturally in favour of fairly stringent gun control. That said, if you live in a society where guns are widely available, I don't see an inherent problem with teaching kids how to use guns. Every child is different, there are eight year olds I would trust to use a gun under strict supervision, there are also older children that I wouldn't trust to be within fifty feet of one.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I think its perfectly fine for adults to teach their kids how to shoot guns, and handle them carefully. In fact, if you're going to have a gun in the house, I might go so far as to say it should be mandatory after a certain age. Like what 10 year old kid doesn't want to shoot a gun?! It loud and cool and heroes on TV use them.
And if you're gonna bother having them in the house, be responsible. Otherwise its like having a big bowl of peanuts on the kitchen table, your kid is hypoallergenic, you never tell him what that means, and you show him nothing but peanut commercials on TV 24/7. Its not the kid's fault when he dies.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I'm gonna say yes... but with conditions. You see, kids are inherently drawn to the mysterious, the unknown, the forbidden- and guns in this culture have a mystique all their own. So it's best that kids understand how a firearm really works, its inherent dangers, and what they should and shouldn't do if they find one.

But.

This is something that should be done with a small, relatively low-powered weapon in a highly-controlled environment- unlike that tragedy where parents gave an eight-year-old kid an Uzi set to full-auto. Something like a semi-auto .22 training pistol at a firing range, with just one round loaded so they can understand the "feel" of firing a gun but an accident is highly unlikely.

 

[seventy two]

I would go a step farther, it is normal for schools to teach CPR, and that would be a good time to teach gun safety as well. Even if the kids never intend to fire a gun, it is a good idea to know how to handle one. And obviously, if a parent wants to teach their kid at a younger they should, ideally through a hunter safety course or something similar.

 

[Avnger]

Former boy scout (US) here. Every summer camp, we had the opportunity to shoot both for our merit badge and for fun. However, it was simple .22 caliber rifles which were heavily supervised. That is the type of setting that any type of gun safety instruction should be given in.

Politically, I'm entirely against gun culture, but as an American, I realize it's never quite going to go away. Therefore we do need common sense laws. Structure it by age, structure it by physical strength, structure it by fucking something. However, make sure that it is heavily regulated and supervised so that we don't end up with more of the both atrocious and neglectful shit like this: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I've seen clips of little nine or ten year old boys and girls unloading a fully automatic weapon, and the pride in the parents' voice as they do it just unnerves me. People have to wait until they are sixteen to get a license to drive a car, a mode of transportation, and yet a kid can learn to use something specifically meant to kill at any age a parent feels is okay.
A kid learning how to use a gun makes me uncomfortable because I don't trust a kid's judgment when it comes to fully understanding the weight of taking a life. If someone wants to teach their kid how to use a gun, fine. Just keep the kid away from me, and if I ever have kids, don't expect me to let my kids go over and play at the house unsupervised--or perhaps even at all, depending on the family and the other kid(s)

 

[Chanticoblues]

The more child soldiers, the better.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Define 'child'? I began training to kill people at 17. Which may or may not be worse than simply training a person to use a gun.

Personally? No ... it's dumb. And I'm just going to arbitrarily say a child is 14 and under. I mean, why? I also don't buy the argument kids need to know how to use guns if the parents have guns. That's like saying I need to teach a child how to ride my motorbike just because I have a motorbike and my cousin and her kids visit occasionally. Put your gun in a locker. Problem solved.

I've seen parents coo and clap when their 9 year old shoots a human-shaped target.


What the actual fuck?

Is there a name for this particular brand of stupidity meets insanity? I'm sure there's a collection of neuroses at play here, but the exact configuration, range and quantity of its expression I feel it really needs its own classification.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I say teach them responsibility before handing them the ability to kill and maim at the press of a button. At least vehicles have a few more steps requiring effort and thought before the potential lethal mistakes. Might as well teach them how to safely and efficiently down alcohol at parties also, gotta prepare 'em for all sorts and that is far less dangerous and more socially bonding. There are those that romanticise guns and the power they give them. I feel there are many perhaps addicted to that sense and without it, they feel vulnerable. They feel their kids are also then vulnerable without it, the old parental instinct adapts to this I guess. But I always thought most people are too socially enclosed and barred up without MD, maybe we can use that to teach kids not to be assholes and see the simple beauty in life. Far less dangerous, statistically, biologically and perhaps even emotionally. Eh, priorities, habits and judgments have made a strange tread in life so far.

 

[omega 616]

Would I let a kid hold my kitchen knife (keeping in mind, I'm a chef and my knives are ALWAYS razor sharp. I've had people barely touch my blade and bleed)? No. So my initial reaction is, "if I wouldn't let them hold that, why would I allow them to hold a thing infinitely more dangerous?".

On the other hand, if you have guns in your house (and as much as I think you're a fool for doing so) then you better teach the lil rugrat something about it, even if it is "touch this and your fingers are getting broken, so if you pick it up again you can't fire it", at most I'd say air pistols are the limit of allowed to fire 'cos it will suck to be hit by it but it's not going to kill (unless, I dunno an upward shot through the eyeball) but you still get that "oh, cool" factor

Actual guns? I don't see the point, you expecting the kid to form part of a militia?

EDIT: If you take into consideration age limits on other things, porn is 18, driving is 17, drinking is 21, sex is 18, smoking is 16, tattoos are 18, games and movies have age limits ... for gods sake, you have to be 13 to watch the simpsons movie but as shown above by another user a 9 year old is allowed to fire a gun!? Then ends up killing the instructor!? DAFUQ?

Wish America would get over it's love of guns, never will but damn, the population of the USA would be double if not for them.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I think knowing how to properly handle a gun is an important life skill, kind of like being able to light a fire without matches, or CPR/first aid.

For some people it's a much more important skill than for others, and some will never practically use it in their life, but it's still something useful that could save your life or the life of another one day.

My dad taught me how to shoot a gun at the age of 13. He was in the military when he was younger and thought that it was important for me to know how to defend myself. He also taught me some basic hand to hand combat, and survival skills.

I have since taught all of my friends how to safely handle a gun, and it's become something of a hobby for us (we go shooting at a range every few weeks to maintain our skills).

I don't have any kids, nor do I ever plan to but if I did you bet your ass I'd teach them proper firearm safety and operation.

 

[FalloutJack]

I'm gonna say that it depends, based upon the notion that some people are NEVER safe to have a gun around.

 

[Terminal Blue]

When I was a kid, my dad and I used to plink with a little .22 air rifle. Here, most cartridge-firing guns are tied to a license holder who is the only person allowed to fire them, and they have to be secured at all times when not in use, so although my dad owns more powerful guns it was always obvious to me that they were dangerous and not something for me. That said, I could have graduated to cartridges myself, and I know some friends who did even as children by joining shooting clubs. I didn't feel I was good enough to really justify picking it up as a serious sport, and I already knew that long term I wouldn't live in the countryside, so I would never need a gun for any other reason.

From an outsiders perspective, the real problem here seems to be the idea that guns are toys. It doesn't really matter if they're toys for adults or children, it's still kind of a weird way to think about an object which is designed to kill things. While we can debate the utility of guns for self-defence (another concept which is weird from an outside perspective) even "self-defence practitioners" still treat guns as tools.

There's nothing wrong with wanting your kid to know how to use a gun to a particular end, whether that be sports, hunting, pest-control or (if you absolutely must) self-defence, and there's nothing wrong with making that learning fun, but treating fun as the primary purpose strikes me as a bit backwards. There is no conceivable reason in my mind as to why any child needs to know how to fire a machine gun, and the mere act of allowing them to do so seems to me to be teaching them precisely that guns are toys, that they don't require any particular respect. You can throw in as many gun safety talks as you want, but children can easily spot the difference between what an adult tells them and how an adult actually behaves.

 

[barbzilla]

I personally feel that teaching a child about guns, and having them practice with a .22 rifle and maybe a .22 handgun is perfectly acceptable. In fact I find that it reduces the chance that the child would be hurt in a gun accident as well as lowering the odds that they choose to shoot someone. Now obviously this isn't universal, and I think most parents know if their child has a sound enough mind to be involved in something like this. If a child's mind isn't healthy, than it may not be beneficial to teach them how to use one, but teaching them about them would still be good.

Now for the why:
I grew up in a rural part of the US, and because of this there were plenty of guns to go around. Now of all the kids I went to school with, the ones who had parents that taught them to shoot and allowed them to practice with them only 1 of them was involved in an incident (the kid accidentally shot someone's window out of their car while he was hunting with his father). Out of the kids who had no experience with guns there were 4 incidents. Three involving accidental discharge (o of which hit another kid in the leg) and one where the kid got angry at another kid and tried to shoot him (thankfully he missed and the other kid ran away).

Now I won't pretend to say this is enough sample size to be relevant, but my experience was similar. Prior to being formally taught about guns, I would play with them around my house (I was a horrible child with adhd, and had a habit of engaging in stupid or risky activities). Now I never got caught and I never was involved in a firearm incident (thankfully), but when I turned 13 my dad decided it was time for me to learn about guns. He gave me a short class in firearms (this included some VHS of people involved in accidental shootings) and took me to the range. Afterwards he told me that I could shoot the gun anytime I wanted as long as he was with me and we went to the range first. I probably shot that rifle for 4 months every weekend until I finally grew board of it and started only practicing one day a month. After he did that for me though, I never pulled a gun out of his safe and played with it again.

To this day I still practice, though not every month anymore, and despite carrying a firearm on my person, I have never been involved in a gun related incident and I have never drawn my gun in anger.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I would let a child learn how to use a gun depending on their physical ability. If they even have the slightest difficulty even holding the gun or drawing it from its holster, I wouldn't let him or her anywhere near a firearm.

I'm not against children learning how to use guns, but at the same time I think it would be better for the child to be the one to initiate the lessons from his or her own interest in the activity.

 

[Thaluikhain]

On one hand, if someone is going to be around guns, best that they know what they are doing.

On the other, as mentioned, kids aren't legally responsible enough to drive, drink, smoke, have sex etc. Mucking about with a gun seems like something that'd fit in there.

 

[Zhukov]

Despite being generally anti-gun ownership and pro-gun control, I'm actually not opposed to teaching kids how to use guns. If a kid is going to be around guns for whatever reason then I'd prefer they understand what it is, how it works and what it does. Hopefully less chance of them ending up in the news as a cautionary tale when they find mummy's purse pistol and accidentally shoot their little brother through the head.

I wouldn't let a kid anywhere near a gun unsupervised though. Obviously. Even smart kids can do dumb things.

I first fired a gun when I was about eight years old. A .22 bolt action rifle. (I also had a bow and arrows from six years old.) I would do so occasionally until I was a teenager. Just shooting at targets. I then received military weapon and marksmanship training at age 19.

None of these things predisposed me to being gung-ho about guns or thinking of them as toys.

(For the record, I'm Australian, I don't own a gun and I haven't used or handled one for at least six years.)