My daughter is eight, and she’s grown up with guns around the house. We started off with “don’t touch”. Then as she’s grown, I’ve introduced Airsoft and BB guns along with the four rules.

She’s always known the difference between a real firearm (that propels something from the barrel) and a toy gun.

Now her stupid friends, that’s another story. I always make sure nothing is accessible when she has friends over.

Here’s one I’m kind of hung up on, though: How do we approach toy guns? Philosophically, I’m not opposed to gunplay (a la cops and robbers) and I recognize kids will make a stick into a gun. I’m most concerned about mixed signals – don’t point a gun at anything you don’t intend to destroy… unless it’s pretend? Stop, don’t touch, etc…. unless it’s a toy? Do you disallow play with lookalike toy guns completely? Do you tell the kid they have to treat every gun like it’s real until they get an adult’s confirmation it’s a toy? How do you drill home that the cap gun that goes “SNAP!” is okay to “shoot” at their friend but the BB gun that goes “psst” isn’t okay to shoot at anything they don’t want to destroy?

Sounds like a lot of this is gonna come down to also teaching the difference between pretend and reality. I don’t know how early kids can tell the difference though.

I can tell what I do -

The myriad of firearms that are not for immediate, defensive use are locked in cases. A safe would be better, but I’m trying to get a nice one, not some aluminum piece of crap from Wal-Mart.

The carry piece is generally on my hip. Otherwise, it is with the other home defense weapons – the Shotgun Of Doom and the 6.8 Rem SPC EBR. Both the shotgun and AR have loaded magazines, but require charging in order to operate. Mostly because the shotgun is for the Mrs (I’m much more adept with a rifle than anything, even a pistol) and the sound of racking a shell is generally enough to scare away the threat. Same goes for sending the bolt home on the AR.

All the weapons are placed where my girls cannot reach them, even with a chair. There’s a bit of risk there, but a lot of that is mitigated by the following.

My youngest is only 3 and not able to comprehend well enough. When you ask her what she should do when she finds a gun, generally she’ll grin and yell “SHOOT!” which, dammit, is the wrong answer but makes me smile every time. My oldest (at 6) could give Eddie Eagle a lesson or two, she’s so versed with what to do in the situation were she to find a gun. And she’s already proven it works!

Both girls get to help Daddy clean the firearms when I get back from the range. This way, they get to touch them, see that they’re not magical items, and while they are near them they listen to Daddy constantly go on about safety. I know they don’t quite get it yet, but it’s being ingrained in them from the get go. I can’t lock everything up and still be able to protect them should the need arise, but I can’t assume they’re never going to be curious. So I mitigate the risk by allowing them to see the guns and satiating any curiosity they might have.

My oldest went to the range with me one time. She didn’t go in, but she sat by the window and watched. She didn’t like the sound at all and is a little afraid of guns going pop. For the time being, I’m using that to my advantage.

Toy guns are the only cure for a sure case of Vaginitis. The four safety rules can readily be followed in the middle of a firefight…even an imaginary one. The kid is not going to be denied the opportunity to kill bad guys. I’m not even adverse to BB gun wars. Playing guns made me half the man I am today. The problem isn’t shooting people, it’s who you’re shooting.

I recommend the reading of this site. http://www.corneredcat.com/

WRT guns being “good” or “bad” or whatever, I’d add something else.

Guns are tools that can cause injury or death. I’d consider handling the general principles of child safety all at once. Chainsaw, kitchen knife, electric drill, steam iron, stove, toaster, lead pot, acetylene torch, camp lantern, whatever. These are all machines that can be dangerous, and IMHO children should learn to treat them all with similar respect.

That’s how I was taught, and I ain’t dead yet. :-)

you might enjoy this article on the topic
http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-to-do-with-your-old-gijoe-action.html

as i live in a country (australia) where gun ownership is severely restricted we don’t have loaded guns laying around the house so my opinions are a bit more limited than yours. However, my girls (5 & 7) help me clean my gun (after watching me check that it is unloaded), they help me reload (the 7 y.o. can explain how each stage of the press works – not quite sure where she picked the information up from) and they know that if there is a gun on the table or whatever that they are to leave it alone and tell an adult.

I could quite easily leave a loaded firearm in the house and KNOW that they wouldn’t do anything stupid with it, but that’s their natures. From early on they seemed to have an innate appreciation that everything has a purpose and you use it for the purpose it was designed (so never had sandwiches in the VCR nor stuff in the loo). Other kids aren’t like that and prefer to experiment – so yes, i think it does depend on the nature of the children.

I haven’t taken the girls shooting yet … they come and watch my husband & I but haven’t yet pulled the trigger on a loaded gun. I’m trying to organise an air rifle for them as i now think that they are old enough to start.

I think you’re on the right track. You’ve outlined basically how I feel about the whole subject too… great minds think alike right?

Education and by not making guns a mystery. Your kinds should be exposed to them at a young age. I think I went on my first dove hunt around first grade.

The boy I babysat was not allowed toy guns. He would use a stick and pretend it was a gun or build one out of legos when Mom was not around. He is Army Special Forces now.

I’d say Robb Allen gave an excellent answer to your concerns.

Most kids readily know the difference between pretend and reality by age 7 (some a lot younger, depending on the child); and kids will always play with toy weapons, even if they have to use substitutes like sticks (I’ve seen 3-year-old girls bend a Barbie at the waist, hold it by the torso, and pretend it was a gun!). We give them toy trucks and toy animals and toy babies when they’re clearly too young to be responsible for the real thing; why should there be a difference with toy guns?

My youngest is 16 and loves going to the gun club to shoot, either with her stepdad or with both him and me. I figure if she’s old enough to legally use an extremely dangerous machine (the car) and to be responsible for babysitting my toddler godson for several hours alone, she’s mature enough to be treated as an adult when it comes to firearms. That doesn’t mean we don’t keep tabs on her gun-safety practices, of course. But affirming gun safety should be standard practice for everyone, whether the person using the gun is 16 or 60.