imported post
Legba wrote:
The "my kid knows better" bit is well and good, but you have to wonder if a kid's friends might get at them, or someone might hear a kid mention that you have guns at all and target them for theft (it happened to my brother). I wouldn't trust any level of instruction and stern warnings to ultimately keep kids away from guns. I prefer to err on the side of caution, for my own part. Then again, I don't have kids of my own, so it's not much of a problem, but I have had to sweep the house to secure stuff when my brother visits with his kids.
-ljp
Actually my kids don't have friends over to my house, since I only have my kids "part time" so to speak. So their friends doing something isn't even an issue.
I took the more active approach w/ my kids and guns. I didn't want to just say "guns are bad - don't touch them" and leave it at that, because we all know younger kids are like cats: too curious for their own good (and not to mention they always want to do the exact thing you just told them "no")... So since I have handguns and long guns around the house, I went w/ the "educate them" and "hands-on"approaches.
I let them handle my handgun and my long guns. I taught them proper trigger finger discipline (my 8-y.o. is a natural!). They've been to a range and witnessed what happens to clay pigeons when blasted w/ a shotgun. They've heard how loud a shot can be. They've been to a gun store and "looked around" and handled a handgun I was considering buying at the time. They "saw" how they're too little to properly handle a long gun (since they couldn't hold it up for very long). They "felt" how heavy a handgun was to hold up and aim in the required time. They saw holes in my targets (w/ the pep-talk "this could be a person if...").They've seen me disassembling and reassembling and cleaning my guns. They held spent casings. They've asked a lot of good questions, and I've either explained it or demonstrated it for them....
You get the idea; I'm taking the curiosity out of the picture by getting them semi-involved and used to the idea of firearms. Which is important since Mommy is an anti-gun "guns are evil" type of person. I believe that if you play "keep away" w/ some children they'll only try harder to defy you and get their hands on something that's off limits. So I went the pro-active way. I'll ask them to tell me the rules if they ever find a gun somewhere else, and they remember the rules, too! I also told them, when they're older, if they want to learn how to shoot, when the time comes (and they're more "mature" and physically able) I'll gladly teach them.
And while you're totally right about the trust level of children to always do what's right, even though I do trust my kids... I also have locks on my long guns AND there's no ammo for them in the house at all (it's at my fiancee's house). As for my handguns, I only have one left in my house, and it's always ON me or next to me (hidden from kid's eyes). And if it's not within my reach, it's empty w/ the slide locked open, and the full mag is hidden where only I know about it (and can reach it quickly).
I love my children too much to keep them in the "dark" about guns. I know it may sound ironic, but I believe theMORE exposure kids have to certain things (while being taught proper form/handling, safety issues, etc), the less likely they'll be to have accidents with those things (like riding bicycles, walking across the road, doing gymnastics, etc).... Guns are no different.