the maturity level of the person plays a big part. When I was that age, I would not trust 90% of my buddies with any gun because they had that look at me I'm a gangster mantality to them. I believe alot of that is due to their families not being gun families so they had no access to guns or were taught proper handleing of them. it really comes down to a person to person basis.
Teenagers and handguns
- Thread starter Gizards'n'Gravy
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22-rimfire
Member
They sure did. But they don't trust you to keep a firearm on base unless it is locked up in the armory.
I'm afraid i would have to be in the same boat of not buying an underage a handgun only because the law states it. My kids are currently 9 and 6mo, I told my 9yo that I would take her out one day and let her shoot. The wife isn't terribly happy about that since she hates guns, but is fine with the kids understanding all things about the guns and safety first.
Now, I will let them fire any gun I have handgun or long. I think that if you know how to handle and fire a gun and have all the safety down, than you are fine with both. If either of them want a gun I would drop whatever on any long gun they want if they are under age. Only because I like to follow the law, its easier that way. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with it but not agreeing with it doesn't keep the cuffs off you if you get caught.
I love to shoot and hunt, I want my kids to grow up the same way and be as safe as possible. I also want to teach them to respect their elders and the law. So I have to follow the laws if I want them to truly understand, even if I don't completely agree with them.
Now, I will let them fire any gun I have handgun or long. I think that if you know how to handle and fire a gun and have all the safety down, than you are fine with both. If either of them want a gun I would drop whatever on any long gun they want if they are under age. Only because I like to follow the law, its easier that way. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with it but not agreeing with it doesn't keep the cuffs off you if you get caught.
I love to shoot and hunt, I want my kids to grow up the same way and be as safe as possible. I also want to teach them to respect their elders and the law. So I have to follow the laws if I want them to truly understand, even if I don't completely agree with them.
Ridgerunner665
Member
I started my first son on 22 rifles very young (5), moved him up to 22 handguns at 12...let him keep his own (a Bersa 45 UC) in his room starting at 16...
He turned out OK
I gave him my Baer stainless Stinger when he graduated boot camp
It does somewhat depend on the kid though...I'm lucky in that he is one of those extremely intelligent individuals and was always willing to listen and learn.
I also believe my young one is gonna be OK too...he's almost 5 now, he had just turned 4 in this pic.
He turned out OK
I gave him my Baer stainless Stinger when he graduated boot camp
It does somewhat depend on the kid though...I'm lucky in that he is one of those extremely intelligent individuals and was always willing to listen and learn.
I also believe my young one is gonna be OK too...he's almost 5 now, he had just turned 4 in this pic.
22-rimfire
Member
Looks good Ridgerunner! I love to see our youth taking a responsible interest in firearms and shooting. It all starts with the parents, but probably mostly Dad.
MECHAGODZILLA II
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I'd rather kids handle weaponry under adult guidance but have free access to the same for emergencies. That keeps the 'forbidden fruit'-related mindset from
happening, too.
happening, too.
That is how we have it set up in my family. We have had zero issues in years of firearms ownership. The friends we don't trust to be safe/knowledgeable and aren't too interested in guns never see the inside of the safe, and know nothing about the loaded weapons stored elsewhere. The ones we do trust and who are interested look forward to shooting with us every time they come over.
My parents would be perfectly Ok with me keeping a handgun in my room, but, you see, I already have 9 long guns in my room, I am buying my friend's bass guitar, I have a car and driver's ed to pay for, and I had multiple vacations I wanted to take this summer. Add the iffy legality of a minor "having" a handgun, whether it is "Dad's" and he has the keys, and here's no reason. If Ohio was a state where you could "posses" a private transaction handgun at 18, and OC if you really wanted to, I would be more interested.
For now, I just carry a cell phone and 3" folder. I wish I could carry a gun, and of course I feel that "I" (of course not other teens cuz I am much better than them
But really it seems like most of us gun-familiar teens seem to be decent people) am responsible enough to do so, but laws are laws. And that S&W or Glock is like 2 months pay after bills. And my Dad ain't exactly rich. But tax returns are coming soon...Now if the guy with a hundred guns who gave us a Mosin for free offers me one of his Kimbers next time we shoot with him, I might feel a bit differently
EDIT: That 3rd Picture is adorable, I can see some Gun Control Liberal having a heart attack at that haha. It reminds me of my 2 year old cousin who can drive my grandfather's 1950s Ford tractor. He is totally obsessed with farm equipment.
Of course it depends on the person, but as far as the question of being 17... I was in the Marine Corps when I was seventeen. Age itself has not much to do with it.
Also, I want to thank that young man in the dress blues for standing his watch for his country. Semper Fi.
Also, I want to thank that young man in the dress blues for standing his watch for his country. Semper Fi.
Loosedhorse
member
Do you trust him alone with the car keys? With enough cash to get into trouble?
I think there is a serious argument to be made that if your child is prone to suicidal thought or criminal behavior, then the firearms (in the first case) or the child (in the second) should be out of the house.
Otherwise: train them, respect them, and do what seems right to you.
Be aware that some states (like mine) severely limit the legality of a non-hunting, non-licensed minor's unsupervised access to firearms.
I remember when I was in high school, I guess I was about 17, I had been out shooting .22 pistols with a friend of mine, and we were driving around, and I needed to stop at the bank to cash my meager check from working at the grocery store. I ALMOST walked in with a pistol on my hip! 
I stopped to take it off before I went in
I stopped to take it off before I went in TwoWheelFiend
Member
Here is a really good article by the great Massad Ayoob about kids and guns. Give it a read.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob68.html
Heres a good quote from it:
"Each family has to make their own decision, and it has to be made specifically for each child, with a ruthlessly honest appraisal of the child’s emotional stability, maturity, and ability. My father, and his father before him, were gunfight survivors before I was born. I grew up with firearms. By the age of nine, I had a .22 rifle, a shotgun, and a Winchester 94 deer rifle hanging on a rack in my bedroom. At the age of 12, I had a loaded Colt .45 automatic in the desk drawer in that same bedroom."
IMO It all depends on the person. When it comes to guns, training and responsibility I had the best father in the world. He was teaching me to shoot handguns when i was 7 or 8. I got my first handgun ( Single Six ) when i was 9. I had access to any handgun in the household when i was 13. My father had all the trust in the world in my because he knew he could. He worked nights and being the oldest son Like the OP said i was responsible to guard the home at night, mom was not a shooter.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob68.html
Heres a good quote from it:
"Each family has to make their own decision, and it has to be made specifically for each child, with a ruthlessly honest appraisal of the child’s emotional stability, maturity, and ability. My father, and his father before him, were gunfight survivors before I was born. I grew up with firearms. By the age of nine, I had a .22 rifle, a shotgun, and a Winchester 94 deer rifle hanging on a rack in my bedroom. At the age of 12, I had a loaded Colt .45 automatic in the desk drawer in that same bedroom."
IMO It all depends on the person. When it comes to guns, training and responsibility I had the best father in the world. He was teaching me to shoot handguns when i was 7 or 8. I got my first handgun ( Single Six ) when i was 9. I had access to any handgun in the household when i was 13. My father had all the trust in the world in my because he knew he could. He worked nights and being the oldest son Like the OP said i was responsible to guard the home at night, mom was not a shooter.
22-rimfire
Member
I believe in MA you have to have your firearms essentially locked up like Great Britian? Good for the safe business....
smalls
Member
Harrod, you make it sound like it's illegal to buy a handgun and allow any underage person to shoot it at all.
I think that handguns are a big temptation for teens and parents should be very cautiously of letting teens have access to them.
The temptation to pocket a handgun and go someplace with it is going to be there.
Access to a long gun and not a handgun still requires a responsible person, but it reduces the temptation to take it someplace.
I would let them shoot it at the range, and keep it from being the forbidden fruit, but access to a handgun is a very risky thing.
It only takes taking it someplace its not supposed to be one time, letting a friend that is immature hold it or check it out, or otherwise getting into trouble with it to put both the kid and parent in some trouble.
That does not even require malicious intent.
A child with a parent that works odd hours can be even worse. That means they could take it out and get away with it and bring it back and nobody would know, on as regular a basis as they wanted. Until caught or they do something stupid.
M2 Carbine said:
22-rimfire said:
That is exactly correct. The military trusts its soldiers very little, especially in modern times.
Personal and issued weapons are rarely allowed in the soldier's possession on a base or outside of a war zone.
In fact they are so restrictive of soldiers today that many cannot even possess knives in the barracks. Or they are limited to certain types of knives, specifically sizes or types not seen as posing any real risk of death if used offensively.
The military has also issued mandatory registration orders of all personal owned weapons, even those stored off base, in recent years.
The military does not even trust soldiers to own weapons they don't know about off base.
The military is not in favor of firearm freedoms. They want absolute control over the lives of their soldiers, and ready access and freedom with firearms beyond what is necessary is discouraged.
The military is a dictatorship, and anything that gives individuals control or potential power over themselves or other members of the military outside of the designed hierarchy are obviously seen as a potential threat. Power must be tightly controlled, and this extends to keeping firearms in an armory except and unless needed, and attempts to keep tabs on all possible arms members of the military are likely to have access to (including personal owned weapons off base.)
The temptation to pocket a handgun and go someplace with it is going to be there.
Access to a long gun and not a handgun still requires a responsible person, but it reduces the temptation to take it someplace.
I would let them shoot it at the range, and keep it from being the forbidden fruit, but access to a handgun is a very risky thing.
It only takes taking it someplace its not supposed to be one time, letting a friend that is immature hold it or check it out, or otherwise getting into trouble with it to put both the kid and parent in some trouble.
That does not even require malicious intent.
A child with a parent that works odd hours can be even worse. That means they could take it out and get away with it and bring it back and nobody would know, on as regular a basis as they wanted. Until caught or they do something stupid.
M2 Carbine said:
22-rimfire said:
That is exactly correct. The military trusts its soldiers very little, especially in modern times.
Personal and issued weapons are rarely allowed in the soldier's possession on a base or outside of a war zone.
In fact they are so restrictive of soldiers today that many cannot even possess knives in the barracks. Or they are limited to certain types of knives, specifically sizes or types not seen as posing any real risk of death if used offensively.
The military has also issued mandatory registration orders of all personal owned weapons, even those stored off base, in recent years.
The military does not even trust soldiers to own weapons they don't know about off base.
The military is not in favor of firearm freedoms. They want absolute control over the lives of their soldiers, and ready access and freedom with firearms beyond what is necessary is discouraged.
The military is a dictatorship, and anything that gives individuals control or potential power over themselves or other members of the military outside of the designed hierarchy are obviously seen as a potential threat. Power must be tightly controlled, and this extends to keeping firearms in an armory except and unless needed, and attempts to keep tabs on all possible arms members of the military are likely to have access to (including personal owned weapons off base.)
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CelticArmory
Member
Depends on the teen. One of my step sons who is 14 I would trust implicitly. In fact he has his own .22 rifle that used to hang in a rack in his bedroom, until his older brother moved in. His older brother who is 16 I wouldn't trust with a BB gun. It's all based on behavior.
razorback2003
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I don't see a problem if it is legal in Louisiana. I had a handgun given to me when I was 18 for protection. I started carrying it in the woods and when I traveled.
dannyr3_8
Member
you said it all it all depends on the individual
USAF_Vet
Member
I figure if my step son can handle my 9mm at his age, as long as he progresses nicely, he'll get his own handgun at 16 or so.
hermannr
Member
all 5 of our daughters had safety training and .22 rifle experience by age 8 (some were as young as 5 when they began)
All 5 had the handgun down pat by age 12, and every one of them liked their mother's High Standard Trophy to anything I had, but every one shot every weapon we had by 12. My guns (many) were never locked up, and the girls knew, if you want to go shoot, ask first. Never had a problem. No mystery, no problems.
Think about the girl that was 17 in TX a couple moths ago that sent some burglers packing by using her fathers pistol. That is what I expected from my girls, and they knew it.
I have a 12 year old granddaughter I would trust with any of my firearms, rifles, pistols or shotguns,,,and I have a 45 year old SIL I wouldn't trust with any of them (too careless)
All 5 had the handgun down pat by age 12, and every one of them liked their mother's High Standard Trophy to anything I had, but every one shot every weapon we had by 12. My guns (many) were never locked up, and the girls knew, if you want to go shoot, ask first. Never had a problem. No mystery, no problems.
Think about the girl that was 17 in TX a couple moths ago that sent some burglers packing by using her fathers pistol. That is what I expected from my girls, and they knew it.
I have a 12 year old granddaughter I would trust with any of my firearms, rifles, pistols or shotguns,,,and I have a 45 year old SIL I wouldn't trust with any of them (too careless)
Ridgerunner665
Member
The top pic of him in his blues was taken the Monday after he got back from Parris Island...his recruiter wanted to show him off at the high school (thats the school in the background)
The one below it was taken within 5 minutes of walking through the front door upon our return from Parris Island.
I have a bunch from Parris Island too...see below...he is now in Camp Pendleton, almost done with AAV crewman training...then he'll be in Camp Lejune (at least for a while...he has applied to see if he can survive the cut for Recon...he'll go back to Camp Pendleton for that)
The one below it was taken within 5 minutes of walking through the front door upon our return from Parris Island.
I have a bunch from Parris Island too...see below...he is now in Camp Pendleton, almost done with AAV crewman training...then he'll be in Camp Lejune (at least for a while...he has applied to see if he can survive the cut for Recon...he'll go back to Camp Pendleton for that)
Dnaltrop
Member
No, I was never trusted with anything larger than a BB gun alone, even though I was the "good" kid.
This led to my learning to pick padlocks, strip and clean firearms rapidly enough to be done before people returned home, and my being the safest and most knowledgeable of my small circle of friends. (two now ex- friends who've passed rounds near my abdomen after clearing a weapon by pulling the slide, THEN dropping the magazine, THEN arguing with my telling them it's now loaded by pointing the gun near me and pulling the trigger)
I'm big on demystification, My girls don't register my handguns as being any more noticeable than a pocket knife. My eldest is mature enough (and chomping at the bit) to have earned her first .22 pistol for her 10th. ( it will of course be legally mine until she's of age)
This led to my learning to pick padlocks, strip and clean firearms rapidly enough to be done before people returned home, and my being the safest and most knowledgeable of my small circle of friends. (two now ex- friends who've passed rounds near my abdomen after clearing a weapon by pulling the slide, THEN dropping the magazine, THEN arguing with my telling them it's now loaded by pointing the gun near me and pulling the trigger)
I'm big on demystification, My girls don't register my handguns as being any more noticeable than a pocket knife. My eldest is mature enough (and chomping at the bit) to have earned her first .22 pistol for her 10th. ( it will of course be legally mine until she's of age)
sugarmaker
Member
Depends on the kid. I had free access to all guns in the house at age 12 and shot regularly "out back". We were 2 miles from the nearest neighbor. At my current house, where we're 5oo feet from several houses in numerous directions, i don't think this would be a good idea.
My sons were around guns their entire childhood. One likes to hunt and shoot as an adult and one seems to care less about it. I have 2 grandsons now who have their own guns and shoot and hunt with supervision. Neither my sons or grandsons shoot as much as I did when I was growing up. I think it is a changing of the times. When I was 12-15 years old it would be a common sight to see me with either a rifle or shotgun. Now it someone that age walked through town the National Guard would be called out. I walked through residential neighboorhoods to get to where I was going to hunt. No one sounded the alarm.
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