Denied

[Raider Nation Fisher]

My almost 5 year old and I found a chipmunk .22 yesterday. It sales for around 100 dollars. The stock is the same color as my Remington 700 .308. He loved the child sized rifle. Told me he wants it and a rifle scope so he can be like me. He even found a bag of burlap to camouflage it. The wife grudgingly gave her approval, and we were going to pick it up this Friday. Well my son told my wifes uncle and grndmommy, about it. I had a huge fight with her uncle. Which basically ended in his being told to sniff off and to NEVER tell me how to raise my son. If he wants to raise a child then he can have his own. We dang near came to blows over it. Now her grandmommy was more understanding. She seemed miffed, but that wasn't due to being anti gun it was due to being worried. After an hour of talking she had swayed me little. She then resorted to bribery. I wait a year on the rifle. she will get the bass boat that has been moth balled for the last 9 years, towed to the shop to be repaired and cleaned. I relented after that offer. However, just cause he isn't getting the rifle this year does NOT mean he can't learn to shoot using my .17 HMR.

[Sam]

You did good.

 

You made out better in the long run.

 

As for your wife's uncle - he probably reads your Forum posts; knows you are an Alabama football fan; and loves the Raiders and he does not trust you with a gun around a child!!!!!!!

 

(Sorry, could not help myself)

 

I think this year's Christmas present for your son is going to be the best Christmas present he has ever had!

[nick76]

She may have won the battle, but not the war. Any right man would go buy that rifle, out a scope on it and make it a proper Christmas gift in December. That would be close enough to 2014 and he will be a year older or close enough.

[deaknh03]

the day the boat hits the water buy the gun.

[clayton86]

Hush is the name of the game just buy the gun and keep it hush till Christmas. My boy had my old marlin 15yn .22lr he's never shot it he just wipes it down every week and asks when he gets bigger if he can shoot it.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

Its going up until Christmas. My wife said to hell with them. She's going and buying it tomorrow. He's gonna get it Christmas day. Its been awhile since I've seen her this mad about something. I'm just not cool with being told how to raise my son. I caused a small war when I took him coon hunting twice this past year, and squirrel hunting three times. I think she's the only one in that family with any sense aside from her granddaddy. I'm not depriving my son of something as simple as this. He LOVES hunting, fishing, and hiking. Or it may just be getting to spend time with me, while we are doing this. Either way. He is going to have an amazing Christmas, this year.

He walked up to me in the store yesterday dragging one of the enormous pelican cases behind him. The dang case was twice his size, and had to weigh as much as he did. He told me, "here daddy, now I can have a case like yours to keep my rifle in." My heart almost burst with pride. Had to keep from laughing to seeing him dragging that giant thing behind him.

[fadetoblack21]

I let my daughter shoot my S&W 915 9mm a few months back. I've also been teaching her how to shoot with my .22. I caught heat from a few relatives, but I basically did what you are doing. I will raise my daughter to shoot if I want to. And I will teach her properly. 

 

If you supervise your child and teach them right from wrong then they will be fine. This stigma that has been cast over guns is ridiculous. 

[SirSnookalot]

I wouldn't like any one telling me how to raise my children.  My own common sense tells me a fishing rod for a 5 year old is one thing, a rifle is a totally different issue, I'd be waiting a few years.  What some one else does with their kids is their business not mine, I don't see a trip to the backwoods of Alabama for me any time in the near future......lol.

[Bankbeater]

IMO, it depends on the child.  I've seen some 5 y.o. kids that I wouldn't trust to tie their own shoes.  Your child sounds like he is eager to learn how to use a gun the correct way.  I say go for it.

[clayton86]

I let my daughter shoot my S&W 915 9mm a few months back. I've also been teaching her how to shoot with my .22. I caught heat from a few relatives, but I basically did what you are doing. I will raise my daughter to shoot if I want to. And I will teach her properly.

If you supervise your child and teach them right from wrong then they will be fine. This stigma that has been cast over guns is ridiculous.

Exactly if you teach them right from wrong soon as they are around fire arms they will be fine. Noah got his red rider for his 3rd bday he turns 4 in 3 weeks and he knows gun safety better then some adults. He makes sure he puts his BB gun on safe right after the shot and he only takes it off just for that second to squeeze the trigger. He had muzzle awareness down pat to he's a very smart ad safe little boy when it comes to guns. When I come in from hunting he stops me at the door and asks to make sure I'm unloaded and on safe. He asks to see his or mine or any of the family's guns he doesn't just open te cabnet up and look he asks and we take it out if he touches it he makes sure we give him a rag to wipe it down so not to rust. This is all from my soon to be 4 year old son!!!! He grew up so far seeing me an all his uncles and grandpa shooting and hunting so hes seen it and been around it his whole life.

[slonezp]

I hated cleaning guns when I was 5. Dad said if you want to shoot guns you have to clean guns. Fortunately I never had anybody tell me how to raise my son.

[Teal]

Look Raider, only you and the wife know your child the way yall do. Only you guys know when it is a reasonable time to introduce your child to firearms. You seem like a reasonable guy, i dont know what the uproar is about, its not like you were going to give him the rifle and let him go with it and or sleep with it in his room unlocked. Anybody with common sense would guess that the firearm would only be unlocked and used when you are home and in extremly close proximity to the child.

Personally, im with the crowd of guys that says educate you child with SAFE firearms practice now. The younger the better. And let him know, that if he ever touvhes your cabinet that you will strangle him and he wont use them anymore

I grew up shooting and hunting for small game when i was about his age. However, i was not allowed to be alone (hunting) with a firearm or a bow until i was 14 years old...my parents made that judgement based on my maturity level. And even then, my dad and older brother were in close proximity.

I do think that it ok for you to start with him now, but like i mentioned twice, you need to be standing over him and have alot of "scouting" trips with him.

Good luck Raider.

[Teal]

**something my dad, made me and my brothers do**

Every hunt, practice, scout walk, before we left, he made us recite Remmingtons, "4 golden rules" to firearm safety.

[clayton86]

I hated cleaning guns when I was 5. Dad said if you want to shoot guns you have to clean guns. Fortunately I never had anybody tell me how to raise my son.

[nick76]

Raider.....you got yourself a good woman there.  My wife gave me a lot of grief because she would not shoot my Colt M4.  She said it was too loud.  So back in December we had a bunch of friends over and we were all shooting, my 6 year old daughter comes up with the largest smile a man can ask for and asks to shoot it.  I explained it too her and showed her the proper way to shoot.  She hit paper 5 out of 6 shots at 100 yds.  My wife's jaw about dropped.  Now I have to buy another one so her and kids can shoot.  Never too young at that age as long as they are taught to respect the gun and the damage it can do.

[mtaag3]

Raider, when you get back to Birmingham you let me know. I have a 40X he can put as many rounds through as he wants. (with your ammo if you can find any)

[Raider Nation Fisher]

Raider.....you got yourself a good woman there.  My wife gave me a lot of grief because she would not shoot my Colt M4.  She said it was too loud.  So back in December we had a bunch of friends over and we were all shooting, my 6 year old daughter comes up with the largest smile a man can ask for and asks to shoot it.  I explained it too her and showed her the proper way to shoot.  She hit paper 5 out of 6 shots at 100 yds.  My wife's jaw about dropped.  Now I have to buy another one so her and kids can shoot.  Never too young at that age as long as they are taught to respect the gun and the damage it can do.

She is a hell of a shot too. Any form of AR or AK and she will out shoot most men. Same goes with 9mm handguns. She ain't half bad with a scoped rifle either. She can use the mildots to compensate for movement. Which I think is awesome. Her biggest problem is compensating for wind speed. Eventually I'll teach her how to do that as well. I'm dying to get her and my son both out there though.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

Raider, when you get back to Birmingham you let me know. I have a 40X he can put as many rounds through as he wants. (with your ammo if you can find any)

I may take you up on that. Don't worry about ammo. I have ammo for days.

[nick76]

She is a hell of a shot too. Any form of AR or AK and she will out shoot most men. Same goes with 9mm handguns. She ain't half bad with a scoped rifle either. She can use the mildots to compensate for movement. Which I think is awesome. Her biggest problem is compensating for wind speed. Eventually I'll teach her how to do that as well. I'm dying to get her and my son both out there though.

 I hear ya, my wife is an excellent shot as well.  Both with a rifle and her 9mm.  When we took our CCW class, the officer who was teaching told me to be worried with how well she shot.  Then I shot and he said, you got nothing to worry about.  He asked if I ever considered getting into law enforcement.  I just smiled and said no. 

[Helluva_Engineer]

I would've just bought him a bb gun for now, but as long as you're directly supervising his use of the .22 I don't see the issue (I'm assuming you are, of course). Maybe that's what the other family members weren't getting?!? I would get upset if my fiance's mom did that.

 

FWIW, I got my 12 gauge shotgun when I was 12. I'd been shooting my .22 for a lot longer than that, but preferred using the bb gun because I didn't have to have my parents around if I was using it.

[Helluva_Engineer]

http://m.washingtonpost.com/national/authorities-2-year-old-kentucky-girl-accidentally-shot-killed-by-5-year-old-brother/2013/04/30/c1832fee-b206-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html

[Raider Nation Fisher]

I would've just bought him a bb gun for now, but as long as you're directly supervising his use of the .22 I don't see the issue (I'm assuming you are, of course). Maybe that's what the other family members weren't getting?!? I would get upset if my fiance's mom did that.

FWIW, I got my 12 gauge shotgun when I was 12. I'd been shooting my .22 for a lot longer than that, but preferred using the bb gun because I didn't have to have my parents around if I was using it.

We already have a .22 cal. break barrel pellet gun that I shoot with him. Its just so dang big for him to shoot.

Surprisingly enough, not a dang word was said about him shooting that with me.

I learned to shoot using a BB gun. My grandfather thought me how to use iron sights with it. He nailed a wooden target to a tree at 25 yards. And that's what we used. Once we (two of my cousins and i) became proficient with iron sights he put a scope on it. My cousins lost interest, but I loved it. He also set up a target at 50 yards at this point. I practiced my butt off with that thing. By the time I advanced to real rifles, I had learned a ton. I took that and combined it with some other stuff and got real good with it. I like compensating with the mil dots for wind and movement. Its fun to me to do that. Especially calculating wind speed by dropping grass(or whatever your material of choice is) and using the equation. Or by looking for "mirage" and doing it that way.

[Trailer]

I heard a retired law enforcement officer make a good point one day. He said he never allowed toy guns in the house because he didn't want his kids making light of a weapon. He raised them around firearms and taught them to respect them. This seemed like a great idea to me.

 

No one can tell you how to raise your children. God Bless the NRA!

 

I'd rather a young child learn how to respectfully handle a firearm with responsible adult supervision, than sit around playing video games and becoming a degenerate.

[clayton86]

I had my oldest out plinking bottles and cans while bull head fishing yesterday and let me tell ya what d**n that boy can shoot he was hitting a Pepsi can at about 20yds open sights and when he missed it was 3-6" over top every single time he turns 4 in a few weeks. He caught 1 bull head and like 20 rock bass to boot also.

[CountBassula]

When I found out my first child was going to be a boy I went out and bought a Sig P220 Equinox for him before he was even born. Now he has that and a .22 revolver waiting for him in the gun safe for when he's old enough (he's 4 now).

 

Right now my kids know that guns a boo-boo and not to be touched (of course none are laying around for them to!!!) but still when I handle them I always explain those are adult things. What I figured would help would be to ease their curiosity, so one time I let my son touch and handle some of my pistols and shotguns. he was bored of it after 5 minutes and never asked to see them again :-)

 

in few years we'll be shooting buddies. oh, and noone in my family would dare to say a word, plus they are all gun owners or approve and are envious of my collection anyways ;-)