gives son gun on the 8th birthday
Honestly that’s not bad if you teach proper safety. I would stick with a Bebe gun and keep it locked up outside of the range.
Teach them young and they will grow up knowing safety.
Also the perfect age to make them try meth. Some kids find it too bitter and stay away from it as a consequence.
Guns are not drugs. Guns are glorified in the media and we need to give youth a basic understanding on what they are and the safety around them. Plus going shooting at the range is a lot of fun.
The reality in the US is that guns are everywhere. People should be exposed to them early in a controlled environment. The kids who play with guns they find in a closet are usually the kids for whom guns are more mysterious.
Giving a kid their own gun (obviously they shouldn’t have access to it without their parents) is a great way to demystify them. If they can ask their parents to show them a gun anytime then there’s nothing special about them and the kids don’t go hunting for them when parents aren’t around.
And every adult should know how to safely handle a firearm even if they have no interest in owning one. Guns exist and you may need to secure one some day.
Be me.
9 years old, over at my friend’s house, his parents were out back in the yard.
My friend “want to see my dad’s rifle?”
My other friend says sure, i follow.
Go to his parents closet, in the back is a bolt action hunting rifle. My friend picks it up and starts to point it.
I say “let me see that”. Proceed to point it at the ground, open the chamber and make sure it was clear, then comment on how cool it was and pass it back.
Seemed common sense to me, but a lot of kids just don’t know how to treat them.
Teaching your kids gun safety is like teaching them how to swim. You may never plan for them to be around guns, you may live in the middle of nebraska and never plan to go near water, but a little timeI spent teaching them can save lives.
