5 Ways To Keep Kids Safe With a Gun in the Home

[Amishman44]

You are a much better parent before you have kids.

ALWAYS!!! When we taught our kids how to shoot (starting at age 5 for those who wanted to) we supervised everything and just taught very basic shooting skills and safety points (barrel ALWAYS at target and finger OFF trigger until read to fire) and let everything develop along side their experiences! Our middle child didn't want to shoot until he was 8 y/o...but then took to it like he'd been doing it his entire (albeit 'short') life! In the beginning, I sat next to them at the shooting table and was ready to assist them with any issues should they arise!
Here we are 11+ years later...and our kids all know the safety rules, how to practice safe gun handling, and why we don't load a magazine into a gun or chamber a round until they're at the mark and ready to shoot...and, most importantly, we all practice gun safety the same way with the same steps, every time...consistently!
Kids can handle a lot of different things...but please keep it age-appropriate and allow them to have a say in what they're comfortable with and what they're not...it's important to them!

 

[Amishman44]

I read something quite a while ago. "You can never child-proof your guns, but you can gun-proof your children". This is something I took to heart, and have used in my gun safety classes. My kids obviously saw my guns before they were old enough to shoot, and it was made clear to them that they should never touch a real gun without myself or my wife present. They're obedient kids, so it wasn't an issue.

Ditto this...I would rather feed the curiosity in a safe and responsible manner rather than have the child's curiosity overwhelm him/her and get the best of them...which could lead to problems! We let our kids hold guns at a young age...but there were rules, so they had to learn those as well! They had to ask to see or hold a gun + recite the (3) rules (make sure it's empty, never let the barrel point at anything they don't want to hurt or destroy, and keep finger off trigger) + demonstrate those rules while holding the pistol.
Train a child correctly, investing time and knowledge into them, and they'll develop correctly and have proper perspective / attitudes in life!

 

[Sigblaster]

Is it common to find firearms laying about in cities like that?

I bought a Davy Cricket 22lr as the starter rifle. And a Rough Rider 22 revolver for the pistol. They loved both, but shooting in the Davy was a pain for my big head trying to get a sight picture. It's definitely made for very young children. Now I hear savage has a better rifle for training young children.


Was you at FT Richardson?

I'm at the northeastern edge of Marion county, so it's not deep in the city or anything. Apparently, a couple years before the cops had chased someone through the neighborhood, and he ran out into the woods behind the houses on our street. He probably dumped it out there. That's about the only way I can imagine it came to be there.

Yes, I was at Fort Rich. Do you know that unregulated shooting area near there where a lot of people go to shoot? (and leave their garbage laying everywhere)

 

[DadSmith]

I'm at the northeastern edge of Marion county, so it's not deep in the city or anything. Apparently, a couple years before the cops had chased someone through the neighborhood, and he ran out into the woods behind the houses on our street. He probably dumped it out there. That's about the only way I can imagine it came to be there.

Yes, I was at Fort Rich. Do you know that unregulated shooting area near there where a lot of people go to shoot? (and leave their garbage laying everywhere)

Are you talking about that outdoor range out behind that small airport and the river up on HWY 1?

 

[d.kaufman]

Teach em young. That's been my motto. Here's a scary picture of my daughter when she was 5 shooting her rascal


She's a little older now

 

[Sigblaster]

Are you talking about that outdoor range out behind that small airport and the river up on HWY 1?

Well, it's not really a range, it's just where people go to shoot, 'cause there's no laws against it. You park on the road, and there's a couple big berms on the trail to keep you from driving back there. there's like 3 different directions to shoot, and a pond off to the side. When were you there?

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Well, it's not really a range, it's just where people go to shoot, 'cause there's no laws against it. You park on the road, and there's a couple big berms on the trail to keep you from driving back there. there's like 3 different directions to shoot, and a pond off to the side. When were you there?

When I was a kid (early teens, too young to drive), we'd walk with a shotgun and a rifle each, ammo vests bulging to overflowing, down the street I still live on to go shooting.

We used to cut through the property of one of the greenhouses on Bluff road (they knew us) and make our way back to the railroad tracks that ran underneath 465 on the southside. There was also a gravel pit back there too.

We would shoot our 22s on the track (shooting down at a tin can or something) or by the gravel pit, but we would shoot pigeons under the 465 overpass with our shotguns (vehicles were never in our line of fire, btw).

Nobody so much as batted an eye back then.

 

[Sigblaster]

I was looking at Google Maps to try to find the shooting area, and it's apparently now Reflections Lake, part of Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge.

Some info...

"Over the years, the site became known for garbage dumping, vehicle burning and target shooting. Cleanup efforts began in 2003 when the community and state and federal agencies worked to remove trash and mitigate hazardous lead-contaminated soils from decades of target shooting."

 

[DadSmith]

I was looking at Google Maps to try to find the shooting area, and it's apparently now Reflections Lake, part of Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge.

Some info...

"Over the years, the site became known for garbage dumping, vehicle burning and target shooting. Cleanup efforts began in 2003 when the community and state and federal agencies worked to remove trash and mitigate hazardous lead-contaminated soils from decades of target shooting."

Home - Birchwood Recreation & Shooting Park

Build Your Skills. Play New Games. Enjoy the Outdoors. Have Fun! Start today and tour our extensive facilities that has something for new and experienced shooters alike. Schedule Your Tour READY TO START? Eight rifle and pistol ranges with over 100 covered

brspclub.com

That's what I was talking about it was pretty nice range. When were you there?

 

[Sigblaster]

Home - Birchwood Recreation & Shooting Park

Build Your Skills. Play New Games. Enjoy the Outdoors. Have Fun! Start today and tour our extensive facilities that has something for new and experienced shooters alike. Schedule Your Tour READY TO START? Eight rifle and pistol ranges with over 100 covered

brspclub.com

That's what I was talking about it was pretty nice range. When were you there?

1997-2000

 

[tbhausen]

When I was a kid the firearms were never secured because I was taught at a very young age that if I touched them without permission I would get my ass beat. The only time I ever touched them was when dad saw a muskrat in the lake that he had to take out… Then he’d let me bring him his 10/22–muskrat gloves! I don’t think I can ever remember him missing one. Kept the snapping turtles fed.

 

[DadSmith]

1997-2000

1989-1990.... now I feel old.

 

[ditcherman]

1989-1990.... now I feel old.

Don’t let em get to ya.
Old age and treachery will beat youth and enthusiasm every time.

I used to tell that to old people to encourage them. Now I just try to remember how it goes.

 

[russc2542]

He's playing to the market, which, to be frank, isn't us educated-in-the-way-of-the-gun folks. He's playing to the market that shows up on the news stories like he mentions. The ones that do nothing and know nothing safety wise. If I were teaching people that wanted to learn would I give the same advice? no. If I were trying to get some city family with zero knowledge that decides to get a piece to protect themselves that would otherwise leave a glock fo-tay on the kitchen counter... if it's all you can get them to do, it's something.

Anyone remember the armslist ad that was made fun of on here some years back about the girl that wanted to trade her safety-less gun for one with a safety after putting a hole in her wall?

 

[Sigblaster]

1989-1990.... now I feel old.

Have you considered that maybe you are old?

In 1989-1990 I was in the 98th Training Division in NY, and Korea. I'm no spring chicken myself.

 

[MinuteManMike]

My daughter came out here as I was writing this, and I told her I was writing this, and she wanted me to include this tidbit: The girl who found it, upon finding it, looked straight down the barrel.

How ELSE can you see if it's loaded then?

 

[MrSmitty]

Is it too late to send this video to the set of "Rust"?
As an aside, when I was a kid my dad did pretty much what everyone here has done/said, he took a concrete block and safely shot it with a .17 Rem. Contender..the block exploded...he said.."that could be a person if you shoot them, so never touch a gun without me around"

 

[tomcat13]

From the beginning, Dad showed me where the firearms were kept in the house (those loaded And unloaded). He told me that I was Not to touch them unless he was present-Period. I Knew that if I disobeyed, there Would Be Unpleasant Consequences (Spare the Rod, etc). He also said he would assist me Anytime I wanted & kept true to that. My 1st Range visit was with my Parents @ 5 yrs old (Yes, Mom shot also). I continued this method with our Daughter. It boils down to a Child being Taught & that Must go along with the Child's Obedience. IMO-Both are is Short Supply these days! Eternal Thanks & RIP-SSGT RMM.

 

[Victory106]

I don't have any kids, but I've been teaching my nephew gun safety and he is 6. The things he remembers at the age of six is crazy!

I wasn't allowed to handle a gun in my house until I was 13. Those were just the rules.

 

[Fire Lord]

How to keep kids safe around firearms?

Don't hire Alec Baldwin as a babysitter!