It’s 2020- At what age do you provide your kids access and training to defensive firearms?

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.455_Hunter

.455_Hunter

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Given the current and potential future situation, at what age are you training your kids on the usage of defensive firearms, especially for home defense?

In addition, many students are remote schooling, with parents unable to continue “stay-at-home” work, leaving the kids at home alone for extended periods during the day.

If your answer is something other than “Absolutely NOT!”, how are you balancing the legal, moral, maturity and training aspects of such a decision?

Your comments and thoughts….
 
.455_Hunter said:
Just for clarity, the discussion is for the defensive use of firearms, not just general shooting or hunting.
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ha ha - fair enough. I change my answer to however old a kid is after they have been effective in learning to shoot a .22 ... and can fully grasp the difference between TV and Movie death, and real death. Some kids I will never teach, simply based on their behavior and personality, just not for them, never going to train them as kids or adults. I just see them as a risk to themselves or others, so - they are just out on the firearm training.
 
Mine are all LONG grown and gone but when they were at home they had access to a gun from the time I felt they could be left home alone at night on. When I no longer felt I had to pay someone to stay at the house when Wife and I wanted to go out I was not going to leave them with dial a prayer to depend on if something happened. Of course any parent now has to know they can trust the kid which can be tricky. Now days with phones and camera's I might have one locked that they could be given the code too if something is happening. Did not have that luxury when mine were "kids" :)
 
Mine got the Eddy Eagle training from the moment they were old enough to grasp it.

Everything else came with their showing an interest in firearms which in the case of my oldest was about age seven. We go as far as their interest takes them.
 
I think it’s all about the kid. Right now I only have one child old enough to handle and understand a gun. He is way too twitchy for me to even trust him with a BB gun. He is well past the age I would prefer to have taught him at, but I just don’t trust him to be safe.
 
I gave my 11 y/o son the combo to my safe. He's very calm non-aggressive. I know I can trust him. His sister who is 10 on the other hand. Very aggressive, twitchy, and always into something she's not supposed to be doing. She might noy ever get the combo. My son has an arsenal in his closet. (Arsenal for a 11 y/o) two bows, three bb guns, a collectable s&w knife, firecrackers, 5,000 rounds of .22 lr, and a few old coins. He would have his 22 if not for his sister. Cant take that chance.
 
I was probably 8 or 9 when my dad bought me my first BB gun and a milk carton of BBs. He taught me actual gun safety with it and supervised me as I shot cans in the back yard.
Not long after, he seemed comfortable with me taking it out to shoot on my own. He built a little wood frame to hold soda cans from strings with some dirt in the bottom to hold them down and that's where I learned to shoot.
The next summer we went camping and when I asked if I could bring my BB gun, he said no and instead brought out the .22 that was the first gun I ever fired. But the only gun I had access to, was that BB gun.

So, depending on the maturity of the kid, I'd have no problem with 8 or so years of age as the first experience with firearms. As far as access, nope. They'd have to be older. Kids still do stupid things and I know at some point, they'll have friends over who may not be as disciplined and its easier to leave the lethal stuff locked away in the safe.
 
9 when I give mine a 22 rifle. Once they prove they can use it properly, know the 10 commandments, take a hunter safety course we will talk about pistol training. My 12 yr old knows how to handle a mini 14. But have not turned him loose with it yet.In a pinch I would allow him to use if I needed help.
 
As with my children, my grand children like to hand load with me; ages 4 and 7. Just like Eddie Eagle, they know not to touch a firearm. When the time comes, they will take Hunters Safety whether they hunt or not. It's good training when firearms are in the house. I say that because all children mature are different times in their life. When my daughter was a teenager I bribed her to take Hunter's Safety. She doesn't hunt, but her husband does. She had a perfect course score and was able to field strip a Rem. 870 and re-assemble it in under two minutes.
 
I think a couple posters didn't read the OP very carefully......

IMO, at the latest, kids should have a basic idea of how to fight with a firearm by the time they're old enough to be left alone over night. They should have been using a firearm to target shoot and hunt for several years before that.
 
It’s important to remember that teaching and giving a kid access to defensive shooting is a few years thing. It starts with their “own” .22 younger than 8, it progresses to hunting so they learn the guns primary purpose and then transitions to their “own” 45 ACP 1911 by the time they are 12 to learn the guns secondary purpose.

For girls, 12 may need to be 11 depending on how they are “maturing”. My own kids spent time shooting IDPA, etc with their Dad, and others in three gun, etc. Other adult league members loved it because they were usually the only kids there. We’d come early and leave late because I’d make my kids help set up and take down the course. Gotta make kids work. In trap league, there was almost always other kids there also.

Access to guns in my home is controlled by me, there can only be one king. When they turn 18 (legal) they take that 45 and .22 with them, if they want. I have one daughter that didn’t want to take, so I’m still looking after her guns. She’s 25 now, and I’m betting she has them before she’s 30; she was pretty awesome in IDPA 5 years ago.
 
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I think a more general question needs to be answered before the child can be instructed in defensive use by firearms: the concept of an individual's right to defend themselves and others from harm - period. Instruction about proper tools and their use can follow after it's determined there's an understanding about the end goal of the project. Sorry if that's a bad metaphor; it's all I could come up with at the moment. I just think that it today's political climate the concept of defending one's self, both in terms of one's beliefs and one's physical well-being, takes second place to other more politically correct concepts.
 
I don't have kids and the wife and I aren't planning on it.

BUT, having been a kid myself raised around guns my answer would be the sooner the better.

Take the curiosity away from it and let them learn what the results can be. For most sane kids that will give them a righteous perspective.
 
Ru4real said:
It’s important to remember that teaching and giving a kid access to defensive shooting is a few years thing. It starts with their “own” .22 younger than 8, it progresses to hunting so they learn the guns primary purpose and then transitions to their “own” 45 ACP 1911 by the time they are 12 to learn the guns secondary purpose.

For girls, 12 may need to be 11 depending on how they are “maturing”. My own kids spent time shooting IDPA, etc with their Dad, and others in three gun, etc. Other adult league members loved it because they were usually the only kids there. We’d come early and leave late because I’d make my kids help set up and take down the course. Gotta make kids work. In trap league, there was almost always other kids there also.

Access to guns in my home is controlled by me, there can only be one king. When they turn 18 (legal) they take that 45 and .22 with them, if they want. I have one daughter that didn’t want to take, so I’m still looking after her guns. She’s 25 now, and I’m betting she has them before she’s 30; she was pretty awesome in IDPA 5 years ago.
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Lucky kids. I have a 10 and 7 year old. They have been around firearms their since they were born. My wife was mortified when I first sat my oldest down at three and let him hold my 1911. I could feel her discontent from the other side of the house. That was until she realized I wasn't letting him "play with it" but was going over safety with him. I explained to her that I wanted to take the curiosity out of firearms early for them. Did the same with the 7 year old. In fact both boys used to "help" me when I'd field strip my .45. Both of them used to be able to identify the basic parts of a 1911 by age 5. They both ask at least twice a day if they can hold whatever I happen to have out for the day. They know that if dad's not around they are off limits. Half the time they don't notice them. They aren't to the point that I'd hand them a weapon for defense just yet.

Short answer: I give them access in the form of when possible and they ask I let them handle firearms when they ask. I've been instructing my 10 year old the fundamentals safety. My 7 year old is almost there also.
 
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Good Ol' Boy said:
I don't have kids and the wife and I aren't planning on it.
BUT, having been a kid myself raised around guns my answer would be the sooner the better.
Take the curiosity away from it and let them learn what the results can be. For most sane kids that will give them a righteous perspective.
Click to expand...

Well put and "Ditto". No kids but my Dad taught me to use a .22 when I was 5 or 6, then taught me how to shoot his M1 a year later. He specifically had me shoot into a muddy stream bank so I could see the effect.
Talk about an "eye opener" ! It has made me careful around firearms ever since.
 
I suppose I have never been formally trained or have ever used a firearm for in home defense.

Proper gun handling, safety, trigger control, shooting accurately, shooting fast and the effects on accuracy, knowing whats beyond your target, shooting on the move, shooting moving targets, shooting from cover, the difference between cover and concealment, creating distance between danger and you. Elements that can be taught and expanded upon long before kids are old enough to actually own a firearm themselves.
 
I taught my son how to shoot from a young age. He was always a big boy and at 18 he was six two and 250 pounds of muscle. Preferred the hard kicking firearms like the 45-70 and the 12 gauge. Never thought to give him defensive training whatsoever. He had a very passive personality. Later he got all training he needed from the Marines. MMA and fire. arms. He was a data marine but also saw action in Iraq and Afghanistan and other locations left unnamed. I also taught my girls to shoot the same way.
 
It depends on the kid. Period.
I don’t have any kids, but I do have a bunch of nieces and nephews. A couple of them I would have had no problem teaching the basics of defense at 11 or 12 years old. A couple of them, I don’t know that I would ever try more than basic gun safety at any age.
 
A friend has three daughters. He gave each her own .22 rifle at age 5 and taught them how to shoot from a bench since they couldn't manage the weight shooting freehand.
 
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