BB guns for kids

[PotterWatch]

I grew up in a family that hunted... well, the boys did anyway. I never had much interest in it and we moved to the lower 48 just before I was old enough to go with my Dad on a moose or caribou hunt anyway. I did fish a lot and still love to fish. I have fired a gun several times, but it's not something I enjoy. I have never owned my own gun. We just got our kids their first BB guns as early Chanukah presents. They are super excited and can't wait to go after the gophers that are rampant around here. What age did you, or your kids, get their first bb gun or other gun?

 

[Hinotori]

I was 6 or 7. We were taught from even younger to repect guns and their lethality. I only have a rifle and shotgun of my own to take care of predators out here if needed.

 

[Mahonri]

Growing up on a farm, my friend and I each got BB guns for Christmas when we were 8 years old.

But kids need to be careful or they'll shoot their eyes out.

My friend had a BB end up going up his nose. I think it's still lodged in his brain....

 

[PotterWatch]

Luckily, my husband having been a paramedic/firefighter, is very big on safety and the kids have been getting gun safety lessons for a while now. They are 10 and 11, and are definitely mature enough to take on this responsibility. Yet another reason for them to be glad we moved to a farm... there certainly wasn't any way they could have fired bb guns at our old house.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Shot my first 12 gauge shotgun around 8 years old. I don't ever remember not having a BB gun.

 

[Debbiesflocks]

I got my first BB gun at around 5 years old. I would really reconsider letting them shoot Gophers if the BB guns are week. If they are the cheap spring loaded ones all i see them doing is wounding the gopher. If you want them to help rid you of gophers buy them a good pellet gun. I would think about getting a gun safe for them so they can only use them under adult supervision. I know us kids would shoot each other when we had nothing fun to shoot at. My best friend still has a BB lodged in his chin and i have another friend who has one lodged in his arm. I personally shot 2 friends with my BB gun. the first one we were playing cowboys and Indians. he was hiding behind a hay bale and shooting arrows at me from a bow. I was shooting with my BB gun. i could see the BB flying at him bounce of a rock in the ground and hit him in the eye lid. the other friend i also shot in the eye hit him in the bottom eye lid. he jumped up screaming my eye my eye. he took of for his house screaming and crying and i took of for mine about a mile and a half away knowing i was dead meat. my parents never knew of this till i was grown and told them. they thought i was such a good child. lol if they only knew how many people i shot, and windows,all of grandma's canning jars and so on with that little daisy BB gun.

 

[Johndeere96]

I've had a 22. Since I was 6-7

 

[wbruder17]

I really think it depends on the kid and how good a parent you are. If you teach them the correct way to do things, and the morality of shooting an animal, then they should be ok. Showing some footage of what happens when people are irrisponsible with firearms wouldnt hurt....just to put a little fear and respect into them.....

 

[PeeperKeeper]

My sister was 7 and I was 8 when we got BB guns. Our brothers were 12 when they allowed the .22 rifle use.

 

[SourRoses]

Ugh.

I can see it's different for parents who raise kids with weapons a regular and respected part of life... and on a farm....

But I have too many bad memories of those things used by other kids when I was a kid. In several different neighborhoods.

Our old cadillac with the hard top but soft sides near the windows... was shot at one night by the kids and riddled with holes. Would have cost too much to fix, so we didn't.

The neighbors sweet cat ended up in our yard at another house... dead... shot with BB's.

Then the kids running around in the middle of the afternoon right after school trying to shoot each other with their BB guns like they were squirt guns or something... and some of us walking home from the school bus stop near getting caught in the crossfire.