Starting kids with guns

by Paul , Sunday, November 13, 2011, 12:23 (4757 days ago) @ stonewalrus

In my opinion, one of the greatest mistakes commonly made by people with small children is to make the gun into something akin to "forbidden fruit" or a mystery - which the child will be enticed to resolve. Remember Skeeter Skelton's story about his mom's 32 acp pistol and how he learned to pick the lock and get at it - when she wasn't around? Yes, safes with combination locks are much better at keeping kids out of the gun closet but they enhance the mystery part.

My kids both new

a) dad has guns
b) they are always loaded
c) where they were
d) you can look at them any time you want - as long as dad is around.
e) you can access them in time of need - but your need WILL be judged by dad later

They were introduced to them at the ages of 3 and 4 with the main lesson being, you can look any time, BUT only with dad present. Thus the guns were not a mystery nor forbidden and were taken as a matter of fact. Only once did the boys get into the guns without dad around. There was a rat in the house and they got out the pellet rifle and "took care of it", then put it back. When we got home we were regaled with how they figured out the safest angle from which to shoot, etc. And the judgment handed down by dad (according to point e) above) was simple - "Well done, boys. We're proud of you." One year we were up in the US and they had the run of an old farm outside town. Their BB guns and pellet rifle were available to them, and the rifles and pistol were in the closet - loaded - all the time. They never got into them as theirs were what they needed for recreation and they could shoot the others whenever they asked.

Forbidden fruit is enticing and leads to accidents. Treating ALL tools as matter of fact and teaching the safe handling of them (whether an ax, powersaw, pocket knife or firearm, etc) at all times keeps kids safer than locking them away in mystery land.

Of course, not everyone shares my views and that's OK. As a student of human behavior my views are developed from observing kids and how they react to the attitudes and teaching of the adults around them.