Children And Firearms
- Thread starter manta49
- Start date
You educate other peoples kids just like you do your own. If they cant listen and follow a few simple rules, then no, they arent allowed to come over. A few parents solved any problem in that direction once they heard their kids got a basic safety lesson. Everyones loss, but it is what it is. Overall, most were supportive and we found a few new shooting partners to boot.
If you teach your kids properly, they too will become the "instructor", and not just passive participants. Ive seen it in our own home, and other places many times, and it wasnt always a kid getting the education.
This isnt an all or one thing either, its a package of everything as best as you can provide it. Safes arent perfect, nor is education. You do the best you can to provide both, but if I had to choose between one or the other, it would have to be education and training.
johnbt and I must have grown up in the same neck of the woods, as everyone we knew, friends, relatives, neighbors, all had guns present in their houses, most unsecured, and in many cases, they were loaded. There was never a problem with kids, as we all knew the drill. Most of us were even allowed on our own before 12 with our own guns outside as well. Its amazing how things have changed, and even more so in just the last few decades. Kind of makes you wonder how things have come to the point they have.
Well said !
different kids also require different methods ... sister in law's kids coming over means full and exhaustive sweep and inventory.
Add to guns ... tools, breakables, kitchen knives... Tempted to lock away everything right down to the spoons
Wife won't let me chain 'em out in the yard ...
Quote. No, it is an anti-freedom thing. If I had to lock up my guns then I would have to unlock them when I needed them which might not be so convenient when the guy with the pitchfork is breaking down my door and stabbing my kids in the chest as happened out in California a couple of years ago.
That might be true if someone was telling you that you have to lock up your guns. Its your choice what you do with your guns.
That might be true if someone was telling you that you have to lock up your guns. Its your choice what you do with your guns.
oneounceload
Moderator
Had them over all the time- many a sleepover, backyard "campout", etc. My two guns that were loaded and not locked up were in my nightstand and closet - my kids knew not to go into my bedroom, and not to let their friends in there - no big deal. I took them shooting, took some of their friends shooting, taught them safety, respect, responsibility, etc. and NEVER had an issue or worry
My gun that is loaded and not locked up, if I have company, is on me.
Kids wander. I certainly did, as a kid. Found the occasional weapon, too - usually while looking in the wrong place for some item I had been asked to retrieve.
I am all for education - among other things I am a flight instructor, and now a basic handgun instructor. But I have a nice 1,000 lb safe, and if company with kids comes over, any gun not on my person is stored in it.
Kids wander. I certainly did, as a kid. Found the occasional weapon, too - usually while looking in the wrong place for some item I had been asked to retrieve.
I am all for education - among other things I am a flight instructor, and now a basic handgun instructor. But I have a nice 1,000 lb safe, and if company with kids comes over, any gun not on my person is stored in it.
I think the odds of my safe being unlocked are lower than the odds of kids entering closets... and we all know that kids can slip out of sight prettily easily if we get distracted.
It is not my place to train my cousin's 4yo with regard to firearms - her mother (more likely her father, really) might object. Some parents do not like guns, do not want their kids to see or learn about guns, etc. So what is your backup plan?
Again, I am all for education; I am not willing to ban family members from my home because they don't like guns, though, so the variable I can positively control is storage. Those I can educate, I will educate. I can't assume I can educate all.
Edit: Before you say I should convert the cousin's husband, realize he is also anti-dog. He and I have very little in common, aside from having married into the same family.
It is not my place to train my cousin's 4yo with regard to firearms - her mother (more likely her father, really) might object. Some parents do not like guns, do not want their kids to see or learn about guns, etc. So what is your backup plan?
Again, I am all for education; I am not willing to ban family members from my home because they don't like guns, though, so the variable I can positively control is storage. Those I can educate, I will educate. I can't assume I can educate all.
Edit: Before you say I should convert the cousin's husband, realize he is also anti-dog. He and I have very little in common, aside from having married into the same family.
Next time they all come over sounds like a great time to get a Rottie pup, and leave a pistol out on the coffee table.
I fully understand where youre coming from, and I agree for the most part with your plan, as mine has always been similar, but I also know how things go with safes and other "things", so Ive always prefered an "in depth" strategy. While I was never concerned with how my kids were, they were always part of the "depth" when it came to dealing with things that may have slipped by when others were over.
I fully understand where youre coming from, and I agree for the most part with your plan, as mine has always been similar, but I also know how things go with safes and other "things", so Ive always prefered an "in depth" strategy. While I was never concerned with how my kids were, they were always part of the "depth" when it came to dealing with things that may have slipped by when others were over.
I already have two medium sized (50-60lb) mixed breeds; realistically, if those cousins come over, it's probably for a holiday gathering - which is about the only time my larger dogs get sequestered. They are excitable, and we have a range from small kids to very elderly people.
The cousin's husband will just have to deal with our Jack Russell, though. (His wife wants the rest of us to get her kids over the fear of dogs that their dad has trained into them - example: "If you don't behave, I'll have Grandma let the dog out!" - the wife's mother shuts her Cocker in a bedroom when they come over. It's not just anti-gunners who can be nuts... Poor old Cocker loves kids, as do all my dogs.)
What's funny is that in the adult males of my generation, at these family things, all but one of us are current or former active, reserve or guard guys (some of the women are currnently Air Guard, for that matter); all gunners, and all dog people except for the one.
But he and his kids pose some challenges...
The other kids have been educated by their dads or uncles.
The cousin's husband will just have to deal with our Jack Russell, though. (His wife wants the rest of us to get her kids over the fear of dogs that their dad has trained into them - example: "If you don't behave, I'll have Grandma let the dog out!" - the wife's mother shuts her Cocker in a bedroom when they come over. It's not just anti-gunners who can be nuts... Poor old Cocker loves kids, as do all my dogs.)
What's funny is that in the adult males of my generation, at these family things, all but one of us are current or former active, reserve or guard guys (some of the women are currnently Air Guard, for that matter); all gunners, and all dog people except for the one.
But he and his kids pose some challenges...
The other kids have been educated by their dads or uncles.
You know, when I was growing up a lot of folks left their houses unlocked and the key in the car. Fwiw, I grew up in downtown Baltimore in the '50s and then the D.C. suburbs - Montgomery County MD.
We started locking things up a couple of years before the rural relatives around Charlottesville and Waynesboro did, but they all did it eventually.
Do we have to lock up the kitchen knives, fish hooks and power tools, too? I guess some people can't be left alone.
John
We started locking things up a couple of years before the rural relatives around Charlottesville and Waynesboro did, but they all did it eventually.
Do we have to lock up the kitchen knives, fish hooks and power tools, too? I guess some people can't be left alone.
John
Neighbor kids come over pretty often here. Guns get put up except for the ones in the bedroom, and the bedroom door gets locked. I don’t take it upon myself to educate the neighbor kids beyond the rules of conduct inside the house. Break a house rule, and you get the boot… kids understand clear rules with guaranteed enforcement. Running, getting too loud and the like; banishment to the yard. Exploring where they shouldn’t and such, they go home and don’t come back for a specified amount of time. It doesn’t take that long to size them up if you really pay attention. Your kids can help there too. One of my standard lines to my kids is "What do you think, can I trust them to follow the rules?". It’s a general question that they can answer without ratting anyone out. Often the answer is "no". Mostly it’s "don’t know". Honesty is never punished in this house, and asking them reinforces their own sense of responsibility.
If I happen to be cleaning a gun, handloading, etc. when they come over, I’ll answer questions and such, but I don’t think it’s my place to educate them on gun safety or use beyond the Eddie Eagle style "Stop, Don’t Touch, Tell Adult" message … unless their parents have said otherwise.
When it comes to corporal punishment, I disagree personally but only concerning my own kids… got enough beatings as a child to know they don’t work as well as some think. Oddly enough, this is firearms related since I never got a beating over guns and never did anything to deserve one. What I did get was open and patient education concerning them. There was also an open rack full of an ungodly assortment in the parent’s bedroom, well, until ‘68. Never touched the stuff without permission.
My kids have been open hand spanked on the leg a total of 3 times between them. All 3 times were when they were toddlers, and it was more to get their attention focused than a punishment. Other kids might need it, and I don’t say that it’s wrong. Mine get freedom within a rigid structure, and a sincere "talk" when the structure is violated. When the oldest was 4 or so, and had done something wrong, she asked me why she couldn’t get a spanking like other kids. Sometimes it’s hard to keep the poker face up when a kid says something like that.
If I happen to be cleaning a gun, handloading, etc. when they come over, I’ll answer questions and such, but I don’t think it’s my place to educate them on gun safety or use beyond the Eddie Eagle style "Stop, Don’t Touch, Tell Adult" message … unless their parents have said otherwise.
When it comes to corporal punishment, I disagree personally but only concerning my own kids… got enough beatings as a child to know they don’t work as well as some think. Oddly enough, this is firearms related since I never got a beating over guns and never did anything to deserve one. What I did get was open and patient education concerning them. There was also an open rack full of an ungodly assortment in the parent’s bedroom, well, until ‘68. Never touched the stuff without permission.
My kids have been open hand spanked on the leg a total of 3 times between them. All 3 times were when they were toddlers, and it was more to get their attention focused than a punishment. Other kids might need it, and I don’t say that it’s wrong. Mine get freedom within a rigid structure, and a sincere "talk" when the structure is violated. When the oldest was 4 or so, and had done something wrong, she asked me why she couldn’t get a spanking like other kids. Sometimes it’s hard to keep the poker face up when a kid says something like that.
Single Six
New member
Here's what I did with my kids: Instead of telling them "Never touch my guns", instead I let them look at, and handle, any gun of mine they wanted to see, while accompanied by me. I also told them, "Anytime you want to see or hold one of my guns, just come ask me." I also gave them a pretty potent demonstration of what guns can do; this involved me taking them outside, along with my .44 Redhawk, some 240 grain JHPs, and a water-filled milk jug. The point was quickly made! Finally, I let them help me with the gun-cleaning chores, therefore taking away quite a bit of the mystique and glamour kids naturally associate with guns. I'd say my approach has worked quite well. P.S.: Animal, everyone is different, of course, but speaking just for myself...parent [as well as school teacher] administered spankings worked WONDERS for my discipline issues!