just thought id share

[slowpoke]

had a little friend/family cookout over the weekend and while we were there my 4 year old asked if wed let him shoot some cans. keep in mind ive been working with him on gun safety since he could walk. well the boys god father and i looked at each other and said sure... why not! the boys godbrother spent the better part of the gorgeous afternoon working with him. just thought id share a picture from our evening. unk:

 

[one2dmax]

And where is the pictures of the holed cans!

 

[satariel666]

had a little friend/family cookout over the weekend and while we were there my 4 year old asked if wed let him shoot some cans. keep in mind ive been working with him on gun safety since he could walk. well the boys god father and i looked at each other and said sure... why not! the boys godbrother spent the better part of the gorgeous afternoon working with him. just thought id share a picture from our evening. unk:

No offence but I would put you in jail...

 

[Redbone]

By the time I was 7/8 I had my own BB gun and after being trained how to use it I was able to use it anytime I wanted, without supervision. By the time I was 10 I was allowed to take either a .22 or 20 gauge shotgun out for target practicing or hunting. I had to buy my own shell though out of my allowance.
I say teach them early and teach them properly about all aspects of a firearm usage. My nephew never had much chance to be around guns being raised by a sigle mother and now does not like them. I wish he had lived around me longer so I could have educated him better about guns.
Guns are no more dangerous than a automobile, proper information and training are needed for the general public. People kill more people with cars than they do with guns.

 

[RaWarrior]

Redbone's got it here....as long as they understand its not a toy and understand/respect the power. All the evening news horror stories of kids shooting each other are from irresponsible parents keeping loaded guns accessible to kids and failing to educate their kids about them. As such, kids do what kids do and pick up/play with anything that isn't nailed down. Inevitably accidents happen and politicians have a field day with it.

I got a Red Ryder BB gun when I was 8 or 9, a high powered pellet gun a couple years later, and a 1930's Springfield .22 bolt-action 5 shot rifle(that fires and works perfectly) when I was 13 or 14.

I'm hardly a gun enthusiast, but know how to handle one if needed.


There was a section on "conventional wisdom" in the book Freakonomics (a very interesting read btw). There was a case with a mother who refused to let her young kid play at a friend's house because she knew the friend's father owned and kept guns in the house. Instead, she let him go to another friend's house who had a pool. The kid drowned from wandering into the ungated pool. The "unsafe" gun-containing house had everything stored in a locked gun safe, completely out of reach to kids. Statistically, far more kids die each year from drowning in pools than in gun accidents, yet guns have that "fear" factor that pools don't. While accidents are tragic, people naturally want to point the finger at something other than their own irresponsibility.

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

Looks like the little guy is having a good time! I taught both my kids how to shoot and gun safety/respect. They are both older now, and I wouldn't trade those good times for anything!

 

[m-cman]

I started shooting when I was 5, even shot a 12 guage shotgun at that age (which put me on my ass but I hit the can). Got my first .22 rifle when I was 8 and my second when I was 12. Have owned many guns and still do. Bought a Walther P38 new in 1970 that I still have in new condition. Was on the Air Force ROTC Rifle Team in college. All in all, it is the teachings/instructions you get that determines what you do with guns. They are just a tool, or in some circumstances, a toy.

 

[jojo2667]

i agree totally with REDBONE i am a gun enthusiast, and damm proud to be a card carrying life long member of the NRA, my pop taught myself and my brother how to handle and have respect for guns, not asking anyone else to understand but dont exact their oppinions on me either.the boys look like they are having fun and probably will for a long time !

 

[texmax]

Love it man, future sniper to pick off Somali pirates:gun shoot:

 

[SpecOps13]

The Picture,,,, Priceless..:biglaugh:

 

[slowpoke]

I knew some would freak out but I also knew that those enthusiasts would get a kick out of it. He did surprisingly well. Heck even as that picture was taken he was even keeping his finger off the trigger until he was ready to shoot. I'm amazed at how safety conscious he is but that being said that is the only reason we let him have a go with it.

 

[mattness]

stop guys sean's blushing right now. he can shoot cans with his boy in a few years too LOL

 

[KJShover]

Hope the day was a great as it sounds. It takes me back, I remember when I was 4 and camae down on Christmas morning to find my first .22 leaning against my stocking. Got some good training and instruction about how it wasn't a toy.

Later on in the summer my dad, mom and I would go out to the tailings by some of the mines outside of town and shoot quarters and tin cans. To this day I still like to take it out for some plinking and still throw out a few quarters every now and then.

I still have the rifle, its the one benieth the 10/22. It's a single shot .22 short/LR.

 

[EvilD]

No offence but I would put you in jail...

That's because you live in a country that doesn't allow a man to be free. The US is a whole lot different than the rest of the world.

I think it;s awesome.

 

[PATMAX]

My father loved guns as a youngster and lived through Jap occupied Philipines during WWII. If you were caught with a weapon then, you were summarily executed on the spot. His father was a respected community elder that stashed weapons all over. One son became a Brigadier General in the Philipine Military and my father became a surgeon with a lifelong appreciation of firearms. He taught us young and exposed us to firearms. Four boys that all went hunting together and respect, appreciate and enjoy shooting to this day. My nephew just got his first combination Slug/Shot gun of his own. I could not be prouder of the boy as he demonstrates good judgement and maturity at ten years old. He knows it is only taken out with adult supervision. Evil D said more in a few words than a book could how different we are culturally. I walked around my city as a boy thirteen or fourteen with a shotgun heading to local fields to hunt or just shoot. If we saw a cop we would just wave hello! This is outside of Cleveland Ohio, not Alaskan bush. Too bad you couldn't do that Prez. Just a tiny reason why people from all over the world want to come to the USA and taste our freedoms. When it came time for me to carry a weapon for my job, it was a fast learning curve for me and I was comfortable doing it. No jail for us friend!

 

[Redbone]

I had a friend that would sometimes carry his shot gun to school on the bus (in a soft case), keep it in his locker, then would hunt his way home- which was about 10 miles by road (Probably a little shorter by the woods). Our Superintendent even had him take it out of his locker once so he could check it out as he was a hunter too. You cannot do these things today as the times have changed, not enough people exercise their rights, know how to handle a weapon, or even been shown a gun and thus there is a unfounded fear of guns. It is a sad state of affairs IMO.

 

[bigrubbers4x4]

nice pic!!! my father in law bought my daughter a .22 pink cricket when she was born. she just turned 5 in Nov, i will be taking her out in the back yard this year to start teaching her to shoot and about gun safety. there is nothing wrong with teaching youths responsibly about firearms.

 

[Rollie]

No offence but I would put you in jail...

On what charge ?

 

[KJShover]

there is nothing wrong with teaching youths responsibly about firearms.

Yup, I totally agree.
Being the son of a vet/firearms instructor/cop, I had guns around the house. I knew what they were and what they could do as soon as I understood the spoken word. If I ever got curious about any of them I was taught to ask, then it was off to go shooting I have to admit I faked curiosity a few times to go plinking, I think Mom and Dad knew it too but I still got to go :eusa_dance:

 

[Frosty72]

Cool pic, I would do the same thing.

I'm pretty sure that a long time ago in a galaxy far far away they used to teach kids to kill as soon a possible for survival, so what's wrong with a little plinking here and there these days.