BB guns for kids

[Iowa Roo Mom]

I have always went with pops to the gun range, there are pictures of me out there as young as 2 or 3, but I actually got my first BB gun when I was 7 for my birthday and learned to shoot a .22 the following summer. I've grown up around guns, and can't remember not shooting them.

 

[Linn Bee]

Grandson got a bb gun for Christmas last year at 9 1/2. His sister, however, is a better shot at 8. Perhaps that's how we knew the guy needed the glasses he got two weeks ago.

He keeps it here at Grandpa's house cuz we're country with 30 acres.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

My old farmer dad bought my son a pellet rifle when he was 12 and told me: one boy with a gun is good. Two boys with guns is a definite NO!
I didn't know beans about guns because my brothers always handled the "chores" although my mom pinged groundhogs out the farmhouse windows.
So I signed the boy and his older sister up for 4H Riflery to learn proper handling. He was 4H state air pistol champ 3 times and sis qualified for Jr Olympics Air pistol in Colorado.
Wish I was half as comfortable with a gun as my kids.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

In previous generations, guns and rifles were viewed as TOOLS. Too many people today consider them TOYS. HUGE difference.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
Camp Ton-A-Wandah in Hendersonville, NC.

If I had daughters I would be hunting them up.

 

[yomama]

Quote:
That's great! I had no idea that 4h had shooting groups! What a great place for kids to have a place to shoot, and learn the proper ways to handle guns too. I agree, if you take the mystery out of a gun, kids won't feel as much of a need to sneek around to look at them, and unfortunately, get hurt or killed.

 

[Vcomb]

Quote:
well said, but like any tool if you expect someone to use it without getting hurt you need to train them proper with it and preferably with a less powerful version.

I bought my own bb and pellet guns but was taught to shoot with my dad and uncle's rifles and pistols. I wasn't allowed to use them unless supervised and only for target shooting. Once I got my bb guns I did some hunting with them, if you can believe I hunted grasshoppers with them to improve my aim (small target over large distance), then onto doves and pigeons. Eventually I got my 22 and shotgun.

To parallel that, when my dad taught me how to build I had to use hand tools for everything. Ended up building a 10' x 16' pigeon loft by hand before I was allowed to use power tools.

 

[zzGypsy]

4H has a great program, but not in all states (don't see it in CA for instance). NRA has an excellent kids firearms training program too, Eddie Eagle, I think.

didn't get my first gun, BB or otherwise, until I was an adult. now I'm a shooting instructor.

my mom was paranoid about them. My dad did have a few handguns, so we learned basics and safety rules when I was maybe 7 but I can only remember seeing the guns 2 or 3 times as a kid... lots of fear built up around them because of my mom's anxiety. my dad would have taught me to shoot I think, had my mom not been hysterical about it.

we're looking at a piece of property to buy, it's got a natural area for a gun range

if this works out, we'll be having the nieces and nephews out in the summer and it will be shooting lessons for everyone. (as well as barn mucking, goat milking, critter feeding, maybe we'll plan to slaughter some meaties ... )
farm experience. yep, they're all excited. they have NO idea what they're in for

 

[Capvin]

Maybe not exactly analogous to this thread, but in Texas a police officer just shot and killed an 8th grader who was holding a bb gun pistol that looked like a real gun (as most of them do). They gave the kid an order to drop the gun and he did not comply and they shot him. Tragic all around.

 

[FlockMama]

Just got my first one for Christmas and I am an adult!