Whoa, a hypothetical situation in justification of gun enthusiasm. I've never seen that before!

Did you ever find a loaded gun lying on the ground in the woods as a child? Did you ever have a kid pull a gun out of their parents' closet and say "hey check this cool shit out"?

Now before you answer these questions, don't bother, they're rhetorical. The solution to your hypothetical scenario is to tell your kid that if in the unlikely event they come across a gun, don't touch it.

This smacks of turning your kids into living breathing expressions of your personal politics. Let them grow up before they have to worry about whether they want to follow in Charlie Heston's footsteps.

 

I have a healthy respect for firearms and have never fired anything more powerful than a crossman bb gun h:

 

Those are your opinions. I'm more interested in raising a responsible adult, then a normal child. My children will have their childhood as well as the knoledge of how to handle many situations.

Many kids have found guns in their friends house and because they weren't educated more than "don't touch it" they still have the curiousity to figure it out. Take away the mystery and the object loses it's allure.

In a perfect world we wouldn't have to teach our children about guns, or have to use them. But there are people who are crazy, hell most people are. Preparing for a possible event isn't crazy, it's taking action. sometimes you have to do crazy things to survive in a crazy world.

I'm sorry if you don't approve of my actions, but if my son never kills anyone or himself with a gun because of the steps I take now, I'll rest easy knowing I've done everything I could. And if he does so be it, I still did everything I could. Will you rest as easy knowing you didn't cover that ground in the same situation?

 

Same here, but my stepfather has explained guns to me while he was cleaning his. When you understand how things work you can avoid messy situations.

 

Uhhh yeah ok Mike you are the card carrying Hillary loving liberal...this we all know so no need to inform us of the politics you will definitley be infusing your children with.

I do remember a couple of incidents where friends pulled out their parents guns and said "look at this cool shit"...so what now? It has happened and I knew enough about guns to not fuck with it and to treat it as though it were loaded. Probably would have gone on and played cops and robbers with them if I hadn't been taught to handle them at a young age.

As for my kids They started at about 7 years old at the range with me on a .22, my youngest is now capable of handling and loading a .223 and my oldest can take that .223 and knock the dust off a target at nearly 250 yards with no problem.

Do I feel I infused personal politics into it? Nope not a bit in fact I think Heston is a fucking nutcase whack job and no I don't nor will I belong to the NRA. I feel as an American it is our responsibility to maintain a well armed militia and you can't have that if you don't own and teach proper gun handling and safety.

You are the problem and not the solution Mike. You are one of those whack jobs who thinks anyone who enjoys owning, shooting and teaching people about guns and their use are all extremists and hardcore conservatives...well you are very wrong and your opinion is null and void in any discussion about guns because of it.

Now go cast your vote for Obama and feel you have done your part for restricting our legal right to own and use firearms responsibly and leave the rest of us alone....jackass.

 

So we're down to name calling already.

I too put hands on a .22 on a range when I was a kid, more like maybe 12 or 14 or so but a kid nonetheless. Nobody ever tried to brainwash me about legal rights to own firearms and bring politics in to it. Nobody tried to encourage my enthusiasm for guns either. I made up my own mind and came to my own conclusion.

Even if my hypothetical kid hypothetically decided after careful consideration that they wanted to build an arsenal in his/her basement the likes of which hasn't been seen since Tremors 2, then by all means they can go ahead and do it. I wouldn't like it but if they gave me a cogent explanation of their reasoning, I'd accept it. Hypothetically of course. Look at this cool shit here!

I'd have similar reservations I voiced earlier if the OP was about packing up the VW van and dragging one's 5 year-old cross country going to Phish shows and staging sit-ins at supermarkets until they serve only tofu-based meat replacement products in place of all meat. Personal politics should be left free to develop without the poking and prodding of enthusiastically biased parents.

I have no great love for Hillary or Obama. But go ahead let's call each other names for a while longer.

 

When you say you "had" your first firearms at those ages, do you mean that that's when you were first introduced to/fired them? Or do you mean that they were given to you to possess?

 

okay, lets break down the OP...

nobody suggested encouraging their kids to own/use/enjoy guns.

furthermore, it seems to me that politics had nothing to do with anything until you entered the thread. prove me wrong. in fact, show me anyplace where anybody suggested otherwise before you did.

this thread is based on teaching your children to respect all guns, treat all guns as if they were loaded even if you are 100% certain that they arent.... and about general safety. this thread never had, currently doesnt have, nor should it ever have anything to do about politics. you are just trying to stir the pot with your liberal flavor. when you saw "parental/gun crew" in the title, you should have stayed out, seeing as you are neither a parent nor a gun owner.

 

my kid is not even 3 and he knows not to point his toy guns at people so yes.

 

I'm pretty sure you were the first one to start name calling.