kids and bb guns

[mamaKate]

I wouldn't buy my kids bb guns. I always taught them to respect guns and I thought the lines between real and toy were a little too blurred. One son got a black powder pistol for his fifteenth birthday and my youngest has a bb gun now because his older brothers don't agree with me. I think the child's responsibility level really matters.

 

[FunnyFarmer]

My eight year old has one, but he's not allowed to just run around with it. When Dad & his buddies go out back to target shoot he's allowed to take his gun and go with them, and he has to follow all the safety rules. Personally I think if kids are in an environment where they see adults using guns and they show interest, it's better for them to learn to handle a gun and have gun safety drilled into them. Takes the aura of mystique out of it.

Erika

 

[luvmychicknkids]

My 11 y/o and 8 y/o both have BB guns and knives. My 7 y/o doesn't just because we haven't bought him one yet. They are only allowed to use them when we are with them and all the same safety rules are followed as with any firearm. My husband and I neither hunt but love to shoot and feel it is extremely important for our children to learn to respect guns.....what better way than owning their own.

 

[mcg30_40]

I just read the first post but...we used to shoot each other in the butt, never pentrated the jeans. I think kids having bb guns or any gun for that matter is how they were raised. Kids will be kids but if you raise them as not being taboo or something they think they have to sneak to be able to see then the kids don't think anything of them being around. My daughter is 3 and I'm already teaching her to shoot (as much as you can a 3 yr old) but in the process she knows what a gun is and what it can do.

 

[rooster-red]

I think it really depends on the childs level of responsibility.

When I was a teen my parents gave me a .22 air rifle for Christmas, they felt like I was responsible enough to use it witout getting hurt or hurting others. I never let them down.

On the down side, I loaned this pellet gun to one of my friends that I thought was responsible. He was messing around with in in his yard and managed to shoot himself just below his belt line.

He was rushed to the hospital where they removed a pellet from his bladder, and he spent almost a week in the hospital.

Ironically this same young man became a soldier. This soldier was the one who found the baby Noar in Iraq and helped to send her to the U.S. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2005/12/30/Iraq_baby_with_spina_bifida_on_way_to_US/UPI-18831136004772/

I think if we are talking about one of those spring loaded daisy type bb guns that it would be pretty safe, but maybe not the high powered Benjamin like my parents gave me. I still have it by the way.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
OUCH!!!


Yeah, the type makes a difference.

A little daisy red rider won't do near the damage as a break barrel pellet rifle that can shoot 1300fps and be used to take down things like coons from a few hundred feet away. Granted, there is also that difference of 40 bucks and darn near 400 bucks.

 

[sewincircle]

I agree that it depends on the child. My vet just found a beebee in my dog. It was lodged under his skin. My dog is NEVER off his runner so if he was shot it was on a chain and in my yard! I only have one niehgbor and there youngest kid is 18. hmmmmm.

 

[mcg30_40]

Quote:
Sounds like my FIL, he lost a full grown brangus bull to a teen with a bow. The kid claimed he thought it was a deer laying in the pasture. Duh...3000 lb bull vs 200 lb deer. The bull was only maybe 100 ft from the road when shot.

 

[redhen]

although i DO have a friend that still has a BB in her head from being shot as a child...she cant go in a MMR machine..(thats what she told me anyways..)..because the magnetic force could pull the BB through her head and potentially into her brain....

...

 

[djackjr]

I had one as a kid and had strict rules on when I could use it, as long as rules are set and they cannot get to them when you are not home should not be a problem. Of course if you have seen the movie a Christmas Story, carefull they all told poor ralphie when he asked for a bb gun was You'l shoot your eye out!