Kids and guns

[steele]

I'm in the UK and my partner, father and brothers have gun licenses. My son at around age 4 will be taken to the gun club to learn to shoot in a controlled environment. Why? Because it's quality time with his male role models It's just the same as when they'll take him fishing or archery to me. Maybe it's because I have grown up around guns that I don't find it so shocking, I'm pretty sure I shot a gun at a young age (it never interested me though). I think the difference is, that here in UK you can only really shoot real guns, not air rifles in controlled environments. We have guns in the house, in a cabinet which is securely locked, ammo kept in a separate cabinet and is vetted by the police every few years.

I'm sure they could bond in other ways, but when my son is 4 and seeing his Dad heading out on a Saturday morning with his Grandad and Uncles, it seems unfair not to let him when he is at an age where he can follow instructions. Plenty of children and families go to the gun club, I go occasionally, it's just target shooting

ETA: At no point in time will he have access to the guns outside of that controlled environment.

I think the main reason I don't like the thought of children handling guns with live ammunition is that a gun is aethsl weapon. And potentially it could kill them or someone else x

It's also a sport though. I see it as no different to karate or judo. He'll be taught to be respectful of guns and how to handle them correctly, I've never heard of anyone being injured by a gun at a gun club in the UK. I can't stop him being around guns due to his Dad loving them so much so I might as well let him be taught to handle them correctly and safely from a young age. I think that is why so many young kids are allowed them in US, because if they are part of your culture you can't hide them so it is safer to teach them how to use them correctly.

 

[Eleanor ace]

We never owned guns until we started hunting for food, but we're from South Carolina so both DH and I grew up with arsenals of guns being the norm. Even then, it was extremely rare in our day for children to be handed powerful weaponry (meaning .22 or actual hunting rifles). That's definitely more of a new fad in the southern states. It was the norm when we were young to be given a bb or pea gun to do target practice with and to learn how to properly handle a gun until around puberty and then slowly work your way up through good gun behavior and proper respect for the ability of the weapons to kill. Never would anyone I knew have been handed anything that could kill someone without a really unfortunately aimed shot (as in, point blank to the eye or something). I think the new fad is largely due to the modern political climate. Parents of kids I grew up with who used to own at most hunting rifles now own several unregistered semi-automatics "to protect themselves for when the government comes for their guns".

This is really terrifying!

 

[MommyJogger]

We never owned guns until we started hunting for food, but we're from South Carolina so both DH and I grew up with arsenals of guns being the norm. Even then, it was extremely rare in our day for children to be handed powerful weaponry (meaning .22 or actual hunting rifles). That's definitely more of a new fad in the southern states. It was the norm when we were young to be given a bb or pea gun to do target practice with and to learn how to properly handle a gun until around puberty and then slowly work your way up through good gun behavior and proper respect for the ability of the weapons to kill. Never would anyone I knew have been handed anything that could kill someone without a really unfortunately aimed shot (as in, point blank to the eye or something). I think the new fad is largely due to the modern political climate. Parents of kids I grew up with who used to own at most hunting rifles now own several unregistered semi-automatics "to protect themselves for when the government comes for their guns".

This is really terrifying!

Extremism in most forms is usually pretty scary. Far right republicans tend to make me pretty nervous, but I'm sure they feel the same about far left liberals. It's definitely alarming to go home to visit, where most of our older relatives don't realize we're quite liberal, and to hear them start talking about how much better things will be "after the revolution, because the pussy liberals will all get killed off". I'm never actually sure if they believe there's a war coming or if they just like to feel more powerful by talking about it. The sentiment is pretty prominent in very poor, white southern areas.

 

[Eleanor ace]

Yiiiikes! I can imagine how disturbing that would be! Hopefully it is a case of people going along with the norm and saying these tings without actuually really believing/wanting them- or at least that is what I will tell myself so I can sleep tonight

 

[Lina]

That nutter Alex Jones has a lot to answer for.