http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lz22irszTA
You know the trick to training a dog? Buy the right dog. You know the trick to teaching a your child to shoot? Procreate with the right woman (I’m still waiting for Malin Akerman to return my Tweet). OK, yes, that ship has sailed (the whole fleet). Which leaves you working with what you got. In the video above, we’ve got a winner! Sweet kid. Attentive. Respectful. As any parent knows, that’s subject to change without notice. So my pre-tip tip: make sure your kid’s in the mood for instruction when you take them shooting. If they’re not, forget it. Stop. Leave it for another day, year or child. They may come around when you threaten to pull the plug but make NOT teaching your kid the default option. Right, here are three ideas for transferring your firearms-related wisdom and experience to your young ‘un . . .
1. No octopus hands!
Preparing, loading and shooting a gun may be second nature to you, but it’s a complicated business for a kid. Notice the sequence of events above. The sprog reaches for the gun. The elder takes it, releases the slide and thumbs-on the safety with one hand while the kid’s watching. Then the duo’s hands are all over the piece.
Dad says “the safety’s on” as he switches the safety off. Huh? The kid says “wait.” It’s all happening too fast. “Can’t really get my hand on the trigger,” she says. Dad ignores the comment. Various hands go on and off the gun. After the shot, hands come off the gun in no particular order.
The trick to avoiding this potentially dangerous confusion: slow WAY down. Make firing the gun a clear, orderly ritual. Talk it though from beginning to end. Use the same words each and every time. Something like this . . .
“I’m putting one cartridge into the magazine, pushing down on the spring and sliding the cartridge down and forward. See that? I’m inserting the magazine into the gun. Did you hear it click? I’m keeping the gun pointed downrange at all times. I’m racking the slide. Notice that the safety is now on. Can you see the safety? Is it up or down? Is it on or off?
“I’m holding the gun in my left hand, pointed downrange. Sit down here slowly and put your left hand over mine. I’m bringing my right hand onto the gun. Put your right hand over mine, keeping your finger off the trigger.
“Grip my hands firmly. Are you comfortable? Good When I say ‘now’ rest your right finger on the trigger. Do not pull the trigger. Do you understand? Good. Now.
“When I say now again I want you to gently squeeze the trigger. After you squeeze the trigger stay still and just remove your finger from the trigger. Nothing else. Do you understand?
“Now. Good. Finger off the trigger. Stay still. You OK? Look down the sights at the target. Can you see where you bullet went? No? Doesn’t matter. Take your right hand off the gun. Good. Take your left hand off the gun.
“I’m holding the gun in my left hand. I’m pushing the button that drops the magazine. I’m checking the chamber. I’m laying the gun down on the table with the muzzle facing downrange and the empty chamber facing up.
“Look at the empty magazine well and look at the chamber. Is the gun clear and safe? Do we keep it pointed downrange? Good. Let’s check to make sure no one else is on the firing line.
“THE RANGE IS COLD. Is there anyone else on the firing line? OK, let’s go see how you did!”
2. Constantly reinforce muzzle discipline
The young lady in the video above cites the Eddie the Eagle doctrine: don’t touch an unattended gun. Tell a parent or adult. Great landing wrong airport. She’s with a parent and she’s touching a gun. She needs to learn the rules that apply to handling and firing a gun. Actually, she only needs one.
Yes, I know: there are four safety rules. But kids aren’t good at remembering four of anything and muzzle discipline is the one rule to rule them all. If the gun is aimed in a safe direction the chances of someone getting hurt are lower than the chances of the aforementioned Swede’s response to my electronic enquiry.
Just hammer away at it. Is the gun aimed in a safe direction? Where is the safe direction? Why is it a safe direction? Where would be an unsafe direction? Would it be safe is someone was walking way back there? Does it matter if the gun is loaded or unloaded?
Don’t let your kids treat firearms safety rules like their times tables: something they repeat automatically. Make sure they learn them one at a time and think about each one. And not just on the range. Hit ’em with questions at random times.
3. Cherish their targets
You want your child to take pride in their shooting. So they should “own” their target; it’s physical proof of their growing prowess. If you treat the target as important, so will they. Make your targets awesome!
For one thing, give your kid their own target, something that they’ve chosen. Splatter targets are way cool. So are hand-drawn circles. Whatever target you choose make sure you write the day, their name, their age, the distance, gun used, caliber and other details after they’ve perforated it.
For another, display the targets in your home with pride, like an art work from school. Use the target as a springboard to conversation. What do you want to try next time? Further away? Different gun? Was that a lucky shot? I bet you Mom couldn’t do that? Should we make a bet?
And lastly, have them mime the shot for Mom (or someone). Get them in the right stance, talk to them about breathing, pretending to shoot. Better yet, see if they can talk you through the entire process. What should I do first? Now what? Put your finger in an unsafe direction. See if they call you out on it.
When it comes to teaching kids gun safety, that’s non-negotiable. When it comes to teaching kids how to enjoy shooting and do it well, well, I’m thinking it’s nature not nurture. But as long as it’s done with love and safety, in the reverse order, I reckon it’s all good.
How’d that work out for you?
So if I just go about blasting off rounds in the air and the cops show up can I tell them I thought I was gonna be robbed and Biden said it was okay? I mean he is like our Vice-Boss/Vice-Dad and stuff.
He’s like a Pro-2A Charlie Harper. Now I cant help but think Joe watched Army of Darkness too many times. Ok intruders this is my BOOMSTICK!
I wonder if S-Mart is running any specials lately?
Maybe Joe knows.
Joe Biden isn’t the idiot. We are.
Oh sure, we can have a laugh at Joe Biden, but how many times have you heard his advice given over the past several decades in gun shops? Probably a lot.
This whole Joe Biden thing makes us feel smug and superior, but is a distraction from the important issues. The anti-gunners must be laughing at us.
How much time and effort spent on this video could have gone into making a commercial about David Gregory, who broadcast his crime on TV? The Washington DC attorney general went on the record that prosecuting Gregory for violating a gun law “would not promote public safety…nor serve the best interests of the people“.
Think about that. The DC Attorney General said that enforcing gun control laws “would not promote public safety…nor serve the best interests of the people“!
That was six weeks ago, and I have yet to see an NRA-produced ad making that point. Think about the impact of a commercial on national TV with Chuck Norris saying something like “No new gun control laws as long as David Gregory remains a free man“.
Such a commercial would have two effects:
(1) show how stupid the laws are
(2) show how the power elite
will beare exempt from themBut the NRA doesn’t have the guts to do it, because Gregory is entitled to “professional courtesy” as a Washington insider.
Pre-pre tip tip tip: make sure you at least tell the wife or husband first.
I’d have thought Biden’s song would be the Meow Mix jingle, but this is good, too.
Should get the automotive companies and other business and services, not just firearms but to remind people that they can and will take everything they can from the people…Just like they did soda pop and other foods…If we let them they will take everything that they can to control the people on this planet….
Your point applies outdoors too, especially in tinderbox locales such as much of the SW lately. Seems a pair of cousins started a mega forest fire a year or two back just by shooting into dry brush, and I don’t think tracers were involved.
Certain types of rocks generate spectacular sparks when hit with steel-core or steel-jacketed bullets. You’re right, it doesn’t even take tracers if the operator is a sufficiently high grade of idiot.
Yeah, yeah, kids guns… Can we talk about your taste in women for a moment? Broaden your horizons away from the blonde broomhandles for a post or two. How about a Rachel Weisz, a Kate Winslet, or perhaps a Beyonce? Something for those of us that prefer a Garand silhouette to a Glock.
Great tips, ones that my Dad sort of incorporated when he taught me to shoot. Funny enough, the training actually started waaaaaaaay before I ever put my hand on a real gun – my father had bought a couple of water guns the summer before he taught me (including a rifle-sized water gun), and worked in teaching the 4 rules. By the time I was ready for the real deal, my mind was already fertile ground for learning the actual mechanics of shooting a small, bolt action 22 rifle.
One other fun thing to add to letting kids keep and post their own targets: my dad would let me keep a few of my shell casings and tape them to the target. I was fascinated by the various kinds of 22 cases, and he would also let me keep casings from the guns he would shoot too – .38 special, .357 magnum, 9mm, 12 gauge, etc. Of course, we would only collect brass when the range was cold, but I used to take great pride in finding a perfect casing, with firing pin mark exactly in the middle, undented sides…
So Ben Folds’ little brother is a gunny? Who woulda thunk it.
I would rather that children start with single shot 22lr rifles to teach the basics. A Savage Rascal or Mk I G, Henry Single Shot or even the single shot available through CMP.
Not sure I would start out with a 9mm handgun even with supervision.
I wouldn’t recommend shooting while carrying one end of a sofa or wardrobe.
Government employees get plenty of tax money. They should not be shilling for donations on TTAG. Disgusting.
That was the range I went to growing up, shot my first full auto there, got my first chl there…tear. They have made so much money over the years, I am sure they will rebuild.
Man, it’s a good thing that kid didn’t get his essay too close to anyone – it could’ve gone off and shot someone!
How did this politically correct teacher infiltrate the education system in Texas? The kid went to the gun show and had fun. What’s wrong with that?
Don’t assume your emails won’t make a difference, you never know. I wrote companies whose products I own (Rock River, Ruger, Springfield Armory) encouraging them to join the growing list of manufacturers and distributors who are members in the boycott.
As an armed Asian-American of above-average weight and advancing years (trust me, that mouthful sounds better than OFAG) I am sick and tired of “well-meaning” disarmament advocates waging war against my right to defend myself and my family. Many of my fellow minorities try to make a living in the poorer sections of many of America’s big cities and the threat of grave violence that we have to put up with on our way to work, school, worship or recreation is far greater than what the parents of those “pretty blond, blue eyed kids” of Newtown will ever experience again.
I have seen how disarmament only leaves the poorest at a disadvantage. I may not be a member of the NRA but I agree with their argument completely that the elitist white folks who scream “Demand a plan” probably never had to worry about the morality of being armed when confronting a violent crack-head on the bus trip home. I agree completely with the speakers in the video above – GUN CONTROL IS RACIST and it doesn’t matter if the one championing this disarmament is black!
While parents should be the first source of firearms training, wouldn’t it be revolutionary for schools — all of them — to be required to teach firearms training to all children as part of instruction in “civics”? Imagine a Second Amendment Academy . . .
When I was a kid I (almost) had a similar experience. We had to write a biography of some historical personality and I, being a fan of naval history, chose Isoroku Yamamoto. Got an A for it, actually. But, this having happened more than quarter of a century ago under a communist regime, my father got invited into school to explain my choice and where I got all the information. And funny thing is, I got it all from a state-approved historian and his state-approved books so the teacher apologized and that was it. I only learned about my choice possibly creating an incident years later, my father didn’t even bother mentioning it to me at the time it happened.
I’ve met a lot of teachers since, both good and bad. Many of the bad ones would grade something this subjective based on their own views. But I can’t recall any more incidents where a teacher would flatly throw a report away because of the topic, especially if the students are told they can choose any topic. And I’m a teacher myself so I get a lot more chances of hearing about such cases.
Makes me wonder how badly broken US public school system has to be…
Yes, if they gave $1M+ to SAF, I would take notice. A $100K donation for a company that size that is selling $100 Colt mags to the uninformed and desperate doesn’t exactly inspire forgiveness.
Yes! Finally someone writes about lufthansa wiki.
Hi, after reading this amazing ppost i am as well happy to share mmy experience here with mates.
I was denied my stamp because I screwed up. I used my full name first middle and last name as my trust name on the application but it’s abbreviated in the trust paperwork cause I was reading that the ATF like to see it that way. Stupid me ! !
Also they said I have to file a 5320.1 application instead of the 5320.4 cause I’m building it I sent it in February of 2016 got the results on May 27th 2016 they signed it on the 20th of May. Is this typical BS ! !
Article writing is also a fun, if you be acwuainted with after that you ccan write or else it is difficult to write.
Is it OK to post so late in the day? If I may, let me offer the point that cap-guns, potato guns & pop-guns were a part of my life (& that of my siblings) before I could talk. & I was in a community, countryside, & country where firearms & shooting was a daily pursuit – South Africa, rural, Afrikaans. More than that, everybody shot & we watched everybody doing it. Kids are mimics. We saw how it was done, we did it ourselves (with our toys), & we corrected each others’ technique, drills & safety – even to the adults, & that ‘correction’ was received with approval not the least by the recipient. You see, we had our weapon training from the very earliest, with toys. By the time we were big enough of body to handle the real thing, we had a pretty good picture of the right way of doing it. & after the hunt or the shooting we sat & cleaned our ‘firearms’ with the rest. I remember my ‘oil-can’ & tooth-brush & patch was as essential a part of the whole as the gun – sorry – rifle. We got to clean the real thing (oh, the honour!) long before we were big enough to use it. & the Brandy & the Coke DID NOT COME OUT until the guns (our own inclusive) were squared away. I remember we played in & around the adults freely, & they would cheerfully offer tips, participate to the limits their activities allowed, my father made me a leather cowboy holster & gun-belt for my cap-gun, & – hear me – if they saw us doing something wrong with our TOYS we got a smack. A smack for leaving our gun lying around, not knowing where we’d put it, working the action towards others, not knowing exactly where it was pointing at ANY instant, putting it in a dirty, dusty, wet place, letting a ‘child’ pick it up: & hear this; if they caught us pointing it at any living thing, we got a full-blown hiding, then & there, in front of everyone. To school me in aiming, my father & grandfather showed me how to ‘aim off for wind’ & to set a default following wind in my play, always one full silhouette behind. Needless to say, another huge chunk of learning coming with the play. I note that when I started hunting; my very first hunt & all the rest, it took a visceral act of will to make the kill. I carried that right into my military service. It made me a man. In my young day we had no television, but we rented movies, & many a cowboy movie did we see, & critique. See, we had the advantage of prior experience, & we counted the bullets flying out of a ‘six-gun’ & saw the alarming liberties the man riding shotgun would take. Mind you the horsemanship was superb. I reckon if we had had no prior example, those ‘flicks’ we saw would have spoiled us completely for responsible gunmanship. I believe Hollywood, TV & computer-games are the worst possible exposure the young can have to firearm discipline & responsible use. The drills & prep noted in this correspondence is very good. I note particularly the need for slow drills. Also, let a kid handle a high calibre the first time, once, then work on him with the light stuff (my first was to shoot an Ulster Constabulary revolver in .455 Webly – God!). He will be impressed, a good lesson, & take all the light calibres in his stride, until he is ready for the other.
I was looking for some tips to help my daughter be more proficient off of a bench, but stumbled on this. I like the post tips and comments. One thing I have done from the beginning with my daughter – not to make her afraid of firearms in general, but to develop a healthy sense of fear as to what they can do – was to let her know from the beginning “Guns are for one thing. KILLING.” We target practice to be a better shot in order to take the life of an animal (or threat). It may be done in sport or fun, but this is the purpose they were built for, nothing else. This has created a huge amount of respect and understanding in the safe use of firearms and even air guns. She is now 10 years old practicing with her first center fire rifle to go on her first big game hunt this October. I guarantee she knows one thing. When she points that muzzle and puts the sights on an animal it is with the intent to take its life and put meat in our freezer. One comment I don’t agree with though is the very last part of Mark Dreyer’s post about letting them shoot a large caliber. This was done to me as a child, I was also raised around shooting and firearms, it took me years to fix my flinch. I refused to hunt for a good part of my life because I could not shoot without a flinch. A 45-70 gov’t was what got me and I hated guns for a long time. Not everything though is the same for each kid. You know your child, and what they will respond to. Thanks for the article and safe shooting to all.
This is great!
Should parents teach their kids to shoot? vote here – http://app.apeo.co/1ibcdcb