Should kids be shooting at human silhouette targets?

[375supermag]

Hi...
I didn't allow my children to shoot at human silhouettes when they were sub adults.

One of the gun clubs I belong to doesn't allow human silhouette targets. The other does...nobody seems to be able to explain why or why not.

I very seldom use human silhouette targets but considering current events I may start using them for speed drills with my carry guns.

 

[HB]

Seems like a valid question if you consider it as an extension of “when should kids/young adults be introduced to SD training?”.

Obviously every kid is different. Your kid isnt going to be much of a 3-gun shooter at 18 if they don’t start relatively young.

But I don’t think its wise to instill in a 4 year old’s brain that he needs to train constantly in case a person attacks them. We live during the safest time ever to be a human.

Personally I wouldn’t have my kids “training” until they are relatively old and mature. There are a lot of adults I don’t trust with a handgun.

 

[MySuomi]

I have several silhouette plates at the farm. My boys have been shooting them since they were 10 or 12. Now they are in their 20's. From my perspective they are just the biggest steel targets that I have. We have always called them them "the big targets". Never even put a thought into it that they were human silhouette targets.

They are just targets to me. No more, no less. Our culture (in the US) is remarkably stupid. Moan about shooting a roughly human shaped target but perfectly fine with killing the unborn. Go figure.

 

[ojibweindian]

How do you feel about having kids shoot at silhouette targets? Animal silhouettes are ok with me, but I will never let any kid fire at a human silhouette target. This has been my belief for 35+ years of teaching kids to shoot.

Opinions?

I feel nothing at all about it. Don't care.

 

[sbwaters]

A lesson everyone should learn: There is a difference between fantasy and reality.

All of us over a certain age played Army, Wild West, or some such across neighborhood back yards.
Some of us were lucky enough at 8-years-old to shoot .22 rifles at targets in the basement.
Never did I confuse the two. Never would I confuse the two. Never could I confuse the two.

This is a non-issue for me. For those for whom it is an issue, it raises how one nudges children toward developing and validating character for themselves.
"Never do this" is not the same as strengthening processes to figure out for oneself when and why something one should never do, might in fact be done.

 

[Oldschool shooter]

It doesn't bother me in the least, theyknow the difference between a paper target and a person. But what do I know, I drank out of garden hoses, rode bicycles without a helmet, skateboarded with no helmet or pads, and probably ran with scissors at least once.

 

[Hog huntin Harry]

They are just targets to me. No more, no less. Our culture (in the US) is remarkably stupid. Moan about shooting a roughly human shaped target but perfectly fine with killing the unborn. Go figure.

I completely agree Suomi. I don't understand how this is even a topic to start a thread on, if your child is so immature that silhouette targets condition them to shoot actual people, then he/she shouldn't be handed a firearm.

 

[kBob]

Both of my kids took Appleseed before getting cars.... the red coat targets are just red silhouette targets

Is Dirty Dan of CASS fame considered a Silhouette target by the folks that don't like them?

I shot turning and timed Silhouettes in 1974 in the rapid fire pistol event for olympic games in Europe

The first IPSC championships in the Swiss ('75 or '76) used tombstones which some consider silhouettes as well.

-kBob

 

[Robert]

Glad we've settled this one...