Child Hunter Safety Course question.

[INSAYN]

Now, let me explain my situation here. I have never been involved with guns, and never have taken a course on gun safety. My upbringing never involved guns either. My family just wasn't the hunting or gun owning type.

However, common sense tells me that I should break the trend mostly for my son's safety when he is visiting friends that have family members that are into guns.

My son is now 7 and will be 8 in July. I would like to have him take a course on gun safety but not sure at what age would have the most impact on him? Is he old enough to comprehend the information?

I hear of too many stories of kids getting injured or killed by friends while showing off their dad's guns. I'm hoping that a gun safety course would give my son the required knowledge to be thinking ahead and not get involved with "game playing" with real guns.

Also, I would most certianly like to take the course with him, so I can continue support him. I'd like him to respect guns, and not look at them as just a "cool" item.

Any tips would be great.

[Artwo]

First and foremost in any household that has young kids and guns is to keep the guns locked up in a secure place............................

I've always had guns in my house and my kids have always known that under no certian terms are they to touch them without my permision. I also keep all my guns in some kind of safe or lock box that only my wife and I know the comination to. The cost of a good gun safe is nothing compared to the cost of a young life. It also adds huge security against theft as well. At the very least use trigger or bore locks on your guns and keep the ammo in a seperate locked location.

Teaching your kids respect for guns is a personal matter and should begin at home. As you said, your family wasn't into guns/hunting so maybe you and your son can take a gun safety course together. Good for you on wanting to do the right thing and being responsible for your kids and your guns in the house.

[Chromaflage]

Here is a good place to start.

http://www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/

I think that 7 is a little young for the Hunter's Education classes that are offered through ODFW. You could get some materials from the NRA for the Eddie Eagle program and go through the material at home with your son. This would only be a starting point, however. The concepts of gun safety need to be constantly reinforced. One of the best ways to do that practically is to take him to a gun club and get him shooting - maybe with the assistance of a range safety office or a buddy who can coach and mentor both you and your son.

You could also obtain the ODFW Hunters education CD and go through it with your son as well.

Just my coupla pennies.

[Erich_870]

Originally Posted by INSAYN

Now, let me explain my situation here. I have never been involved with guns, and never have taken a course on gun safety. My upbringing never involved guns either. My family just wasn't the hunting or gun owning type.

Originally Posted by INSAYN

However, common sense tells me that I should break the trend mostly for my son's safety when he is visiting friends that have family members that are into guns.

My son is now 7 and will be 8 in July. I would like to have him take a course on gun safety but not sure at what age would have the most impact on him? Is he old enough to comprehend the information?

I hear of too many stories of kids getting injured or killed by friends while showing off their dad's guns. I'm hoping that a gun safety course would give my son the required knowledge to be thinking ahead and not get involved with "game playing" with real guns.

Also, I would most certainly like to take the course with him, so I can continue support him. I'd like him to respect guns, and not look at them as just a "cool" item.

Any tips would be great.

Insayn,

I'd like to commend you on your decision to approach gun safety with a direct and open mind. All too many times concerned parents think it's safer to forbid access to guns, even toy guns, in the hopes it will shield the child from danger. Just as you said, they will eventually go over to a friend’s house and find or be shown their guns and they are totally unprepared.

I'd like to take a minute to share an actual event in my office to illustrate what I think the correct action is for a curious boy and guns. This a true event, but the names have been change.

My co-worker James is a gun FINATIC! That is all the talks about, he wears his favorite gun manufacturers hats every day of the week. He even has their stickers around his office. My other co-work Jamie has a 5 year old son who is like every other 5 year old boy and loves playing cops and robbers and running around the house with plastic toy guns. She came into the office one day saying that her son asked for a new fancier toy gun for his birthday and she was struggling with the idea of supporting this fascination. Her concern was literally that he would one day turn into a fanatic like James.

I tried to explain that James' fascination stemmed from the fact guns were banned, forbidden and held in the highest contempt in his home as a child. he was a bad boy for thinking about playing with a plastic gun.

She had a hard time believing this was the case, so we made a bet that he wasn’t allowed to play with guns, real or plastic, as a child and that’s why he loves guns so much now. If I was right, she had to buy him the toy gun for his birthday, if I was wrong, she was free to banish all guns. At this point a third co-worker was brought into the plan to get the truth.

James walked in, completely unaware of the conversation about the makings of is addiction and was asked if he was allowed to play with toy guns as a child. His exact and unhesitant response was “Heck no! My parents were so anti-gun it wasn’t even funny. Why do you think I have so many now?!”

To make my long post longer, boys will be boys, either at your house or someone elses, so your idea to teach him respect and discipline is the only long term way to help him make the right decisions when you’re not there.

To answer your other question, I think 7 is a little young to sit through hunters safety, but don’t let that stop you from watching shooting shows like American Rifleman or other shows that talk about proper gun handling skills.

Erich

[hrbassin]

I know the thing that really cemented firearm safety in my mind when I was a kid were .22 plinking sessions with my dad, constantly being reminded that guns are 1. Tools, not toys. 2. Extremely dangerous if not used the way they are intended. and 3. a privilege to own and use. By the time I took a hunters safety course all the firearms safety was merely reinforcing what I had learned from my dad. I think the best way to instill a respect for guns at your son's age is directly through you. Learn all you can, visit a range maybe, and put a huge focus on safety in anything firearms related.

Just my

Mark

[outdooraddict]

It's NEVER too early to talk with your kids about gun safety! I was brought up around guns and at a young age saw the results of bullet impact, whether it was a pop can or a mule deer. This is Key! Otherwise, shooting at paper is too much like a video game.

In the past I have been offended by the "Asking Saves Kids" campaign. I figured everyone my kids would visit would have their guns locked up and my son (6) has been shooting 22's for 2+ years, so he knows what to do if he's around a gun without me...right!?

A few weeks ago he was at his first sleep-over at our neighbors house (originally from Montana, ex-big game guide, etc.). About 9PM we get a call that he's wrestless and wants to come home. It turns out, the little boy was bragging about his Dad's guns and showed him one under the bed! They did not touch it, and about an hour later my son was asking to go home.

After confronting the parent, I learned it is a bolt action with no bolt...harmless, but still a good lesson.

The point is, he did not go tell an adult or remove himself from the situation. He did tell us, which was great, but what-if...

ODFW hunter safety is about hunting ethics and safety, probably a bit young still. Eddie Eagle a great place to start.

My , it's all about raising a child that can recognize a dangerous situation and has the self-confidence to walk away, regardless of peer pressure. In this day and age, guns are no less dangerous than drugs, drunk driving, huffing...Good luck!

Being an INVOLVED parent to informed kids is the anti-drug!

[Lunkerlander]

I took the hunters safety course with my sons when they were 9 years old. The instructors were real nice and helpful, they allowed me to help out the boys with any reading they had trouble with during the test. The course was good and the boys did learn a lot, but my boys have been around guns and shooting since they were real little. I think the best firearm education is done over a long period of time. BB guns are a great way to start.

[RidgeRunner]

You can never start talking to your children to soon about guns. I commend you for wanting to make your son safe. It may also pay off in the long run and save another life. Remember that if you wait a year or two to enroll your son in the Hunters Ed program, you can enroll in it also. I sat through my kids classes to show them that you can never learn to much.

[Jeremy]

Have you taken the course? A suggestion might be to take the course and decide when you think your son should take it after you have been through it. I think most of the material is available online so you could check that out too and see if your son would benefit from it at this point or not.

[oregun8]

Hunter's Safety from ODFW is a very good class. My opinion is it should be required to hunt, but thats another thread. I have been threw it 3 times. Once when I was twelve and the other two times was with each of my sons when they were old enough.

The biggest problem I see with someone younger than 12 is comprehending the material and the test. Of course maturity matters, for my boys it was around twelve because of attention span and the course material. They have been around guns all there life and are safer than most people on a range. I knew they just weren't ready to sit in a class yet.

Safety begins at a young age so your on the right track. Maybe it begins with you taking the Hunters Safety. They do have a on-line course now with a field day and test.

[INSAYN]

Thanks for your tips and comments. I haven't heard of Eddie Eagle, so that sounds like a good start. Being 7 and where we live relative to where his school friends live, he hasn't had very many sleep overs yet. This is exactly my reasons for looking into his education regarding gun safety.

We have been dilagent about teaching both our kids safety whether it be riding ATV's, scooters, skate boards, bikes, or playing in or around water.
My son never had the chance to ride anything without his helmet on, so you can find him playing in the yard for hours while forgetting to take his helmet off earlier. Same thing at the river, he was done swimming hours ago, but completely forgets that he has his PFD on still while playing in the sand or gravel no where near water.

I'll look into the online info regarding gun safety training and kids. I just wanted to get some insight from iFish of what you thought of the age and comprehension.

[Zbynek]

I agree that it is never too early to talk to your kids about gun safety. My 4-year old has seen us blow up a barbie doll with a shotgun and is very aware of what guns can do. She is getting at home training on gun safety.

The hunter ed course offered by ODFW is a little beyond her comprehension though. I'm putting my oldest girls through the course this year (ages 12 & 10) as they are going to deer hunt with me and I think their comprehension level is there.

I don't know that you can really put an age on when you should start with a formal course, but ODFW has a self-paced online book course you can look through. I'd recommend reading through the self-pace online course with him to start (not the whole thing, just a little to start off with). You should be able to tell if he is "into" the course or not. I think that would give you the best gage as to his readiness.

Good luck to you and your son!

[CombinationLicense]

There's been a lot of good suggestions in this thread already so I would like to add something I have not seen. First off, the ODFW Hunter Education class is a good source of training but you can do some simple preparation at home to make it much more effective. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a national organization dedicated to promoting the shooting sports, has a Gun Safety DVD available for just $10 that has several gun safety programs on it. Here's what their web site says about it:

The DVD is a compilation of NSSF's three firearms safety video programs, "McGruff the Crime Dog on Gun Safety," for grades K-6, "It's Your Call: Playing It Safe Around Guns," for grades 6-9, and the general-audience program, "Firearms Safety Depends On You," and provides interactive access to online safety resources and PDFs. These resources include the safety brochures, "Firearms Responsibility in the Home," "A Parent's Guide to Recreational Shooting for Youngsters" and "Firearms Safety Depends On You" (the companion booklet to the same-titled video).

I recommend that you obtain a copy of the DVD and start by watching it with your son.

The next step is actually using a firearm or a reasonable facsimile of a firearm. IMHO, you should start with something less lethal than a real firearm, like an air rifle or air-soft gun, and treat it EXACTLY like a loaded firearm. My reasoning is that kids (as well as adults) sometimes make mistakes when getting started (like failing to watch the muzzle control) and using a bb gun is a safer way to get through the first stage of gun handling. Don't laugh, I know people that carried a broom in the woods for their "first rifle" to get the hang of gun safety. Another advantage of starting with an air rifle is that it can be shot safely at home by using a bb trap target. You and your son can enjoy hours of fun while learning how to safely handle firearms in the privacy of your own home.

After you see that you and your son have got the basics down it'll be time to progress to shooting real firearms. Many shooting ranges have entry level programs designed to introduce new shooters to .22 caliber rifle shooting. Douglas Ridge Rifle Club (DRRC) is one and you can PM me for more information about it if you like. They also have a youth day every year designed to introduce new shooters to several different disciplines so that could be an option too.

At this level, you and your son will both obviously be more comfortable with firearms so when you take the ODFW hunter safety course everything will "click" for both of you.

I hope that helps, please feel free to PM me if you have questions about the NSSF, DRRC or the process as a whole.



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