At what age should children be allowed to fire guns?

I was probably 10 when my grandfather took me out "shooting" and 12 when I got a xmas present of a single shot 22 bolt action rifle that cost $12.99 from monkey wards. I was very closely supervised. I was 15 when I first went deer hunting with a rifle of my own, a 33-30 winchester which I still have.

Well actually using a progression up the caliber is a good thing. If the husband teaches gun safety and the kids understand then ok - it's a muture dependent thing from my POV.

and when I was about 11 I wanted to shoot my grandfathers shotgun, a 10 gauge double barrel. He took me out in the back corn field and loaded it with OO buck and gave me the gun and told me to shoot the tree in the field, I did and sat back on my ass about ten feet. I waited a few years before I asked about the shotgun again.

The pissyass response I was going to give would be less than helpful, so let me just weigh in that 9 and 5 is definitely too young. The hunter safety course is a great idea.

Hunting at 5yrs old??? how negligent....I would agree with the mother
wait until they are 11yrs by then they maybe slightly more mature to know what gun safety etc is all about

I too refrained from shouting that it is too young.

It seems that the fact that the course isn't even offered until they're 11 is meaningful...

I was 10 when I fired my first gun, a Civil War era muzzle loading Springfield (I knocked me on my rear). I was 11 when I got my first formal training with guns (at Boy Scout camp). I think 11 or 12 would be the appropriate age. But only under adult supervision.

Well, i was going to point out that i was instructed in firearms use and safety by my grandfather when i was eight--but it seems that may be construed as a politically incorrect response. It was a single-action, bolt-action .22 long . . .

I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful responses so far. To clarify things, the father has already agreed not to take either child hunting until they have taken and passed the hunter safety course (after age 11). What he wants to do in the meantime, however, is simply allow each child to fire various guns at targets, starting with a BB gun, then 22, then shotgun. The mother wants the children to not fire guns at all until they have passed the course. The father has already had the youngest child shooting a BB gun and the boy has fired each weapon (even the shotgun, which apparently left a bruise on his upper right arm and led to this discussion and now, my decision). Any specific thoughts on this narrower question would be greatly appreciated.

It seems that there are two independent questions going on here. If you are talking about just shooting (like at a range) then both are old enough to tinker with the likes of a BB gun (or a .22 for the 9 year old) provided they are supervised closely.

Hunter Saftey classes don't teach you how to shoot. They cover what the hunting laws are and some basic safety precautions (most of which don't apply to firing at a range!).

While Kansas does allow kids of any age to hunt I wouldn't take a 5 year old out myself and a 9 year old would only be taken out for popping squirrels and the like.

I didn't grow up around guns, but I hope that part of this Formal Agreement is that all guns be stored unloaded, under lock and key, and the ammo be stored separately in a secure place.

Obviously, nine year olds are more mature than five year olds. If the father has weekend visitations with both children, this fact-of-life may complicate any formal agreement, particularly since the five-year-old has been allowed some target shooting.

Noddy makes a good point. I did grow up around guns. My brother had a number of hunting rifles on a rack in the living room. This was many, many years ago but I do recall loading one of the rifles with the intent of doing in one of my siblings The rifle was loaded for a couple weeks while I fretted about someone accidently shooting themselves or someone else. I was angry enough at my sister that, although I knew the foolishness of having a loaded rifle in the house, my 10 year old brain was more intent on revenge than safety. Fortunately my conscience won out and I unloaded the gun before anyone got hurt.

Children and guns are a very dangerous combination.


Having said that, target practice at a range with dad is one thing, access to guns to carry on the lessons in the back yard is another. Dad has already put guns in the hands of the 5 year old <grrrr> so this is apparently something that is important to him. It is difficult to come up with a magic number that is a suitable age for all children. Different kids mature at different rates. Given the potential and seriousness of the activity, I would tend to be conservative and say no guns (even at a range) until 9 or 10 and definitely no unsupervised access to guns, ever.

I didn't handle guns myself until I was drafted into the army at 19 years of age. But my uncles, in the years immediately following World War II, spent much of their childhood finding American bombs gone astray, defusing them, and exploding their contents for fun. This got two of them started into successful careers as chemists, and nothing bad ever came off it. In other words, I have a fairly relaxed attitude about handling explosives, guns and other forms of deadly force, if the handlers know how to do it. I have the same attitude about handling cars. But the part about knowing how to handle them is critical.

With this in mind, my answer to you has two parts. First, in my opinion, it is irresponsible to let anyone, especially a child, shoot a gun without thorough instruction in gun safety. Second, gun safety is not rocket science, nothing only anointed professionals can teach. It consists of a few common sense rules, and a habit of following them religiously. This habit cannot be acquired except by following it, and it requires someone who wants to follow it. Therefore, I find that age is not the important issue. The important issues are, first, whether you know any grown-up who possesses some pedagogic talent, and who can be trusted to take gun safety seriously. Second, you have to have children you can trust to follow security precautions once they're taught to them. (I have seen five-year-olds I would trust, as well as twenty-five year olds whom I wouldn't.) If these conditions are met, you can have the grown-up instruct the children instead of having them attend this particular course. If one of those conditions is not met, forget about it until it is.

Finally, rebounding shotguns can give you bruises whether or not you are following safety precautions, so I don't know if this was the real reason for starting this discussion. For what it's worth, from reading between your lines, my impression is that this isn't really about gun safety. This seems to be about the mother not wanting to make her children too comfortable with killing too early in their development. If so, that is a moral position which she whould have to argue out openly with the father. If they are too estranged to talk one-on-one about it, maybe you ought to moderate. Either way, if her concerns are really about moral basics, this discussion needs to happen now. Otherwise, she will eventually run out of technical reasons for slowing this particular process down, so will have to argue the moral point later with diminished standing.

The children are the right age now to learn the basics of respecting what guns can do. The father, as far as I'm concerned, should continue with the basic education. There should not be a shotgun in this at all. The kids are still to young for that. The primary focus for the 5 yo should only be gun safety education. The 9 yo is at the right point of firing the BB gun and the 22. The 5 yo she be held off firing the bb gun until she is about 7.
This is for several reasons. Responsibility, understanding, fine motor skill development.
I hope that answers your question.

Thank you to all who responded. I appreciate input from some of the most thoughtful, intelligent website bulletin board posters I've ever encountered.

AllanSwann--

Thanks for the kind words.

There is a difference between going on a hunting trip to observe and hunting themselves. There is nothing wrong with taking the 5 and 9 year old on a short hunting trip that is well supervised. The 9 year old could certainly go on a longer hunt. I would be concerned with the 5 year old behaving. You don't really want a child acting up or deciding to hide around guns meant to kill small creatures. A respect for guns doesn't mean you have to be holding one. Seeing 3 or 4 adults treat their guns the right way can be a big learning experience.


Recent story about a teenager accidently killing his father on a deer hunting trip.

Source

Last Monday a father shot his 13 old son in the leg, inflicting major damage.

They were going through the woods, twenty yards apart and a deer ran between them.

Daddy missed the deer.