In my opinion, a child is never too young to begin learning how to handle a firearm. Not all, but many of the gun related accidents among children could have probably been avoided with proper education. Given, kids will still be kids…and they don’t always have their heads screwed on straight, but again, in my opinion, a child with a gun who has had some proper training, is always better than a child with a gun who hasn’t.

With that said, with guns spread throughout my house, I’m always looking for opportunities to teach my kids how to properly handle a weapon, and should the need arise, use it. Now that doesn’t mean that I have pistols laying around in areas that are extremely accessible for any of my kids. What I mean by that is this…if one of my kids wants to find a firearm, they will, regardless of how many safety precautions I’ve put into place. So when and if that ever happens in my household, the best safety measure I can put into place will be the ones that are in between my childs own two ears.

Now I’ve got four girls between the ages of three weeks and 13 years old with a mild interest in guns, and a three year old boy who is infatuated with them. So I’m thinking that I should get on the ball and start properly teaching this kid the basics of handling a gun.

So of course, we start with an Airsoft pistol. Yeah, he may be a little young for shooting BB’s, but with proper supervision, it’s a bit more exciting than shooting dart guns.

And, in order to save our BB’s and shoot indoors, I ordered an Airsoft BB Trap from Amazon as our backstop, and as a disclosure, I did receive the BB Trap for free to “test out!”

My wife wasn’t so sure about shooting guns in the house, even Airsoft guns, so I had to convince her that this was going to be safe, using first hand experience. The BB Trap is basically a pup tent, or one of those windshield shades that can easily pop up and be ready to go. Inside the BB Trap it has strips of fiber and cloth hanging down to slow the BB’s as they enter the trap.

I’m telling you what…it drives me crazy seeing little plastic BB’s all over the place, so this BB Trap is heaven sent.

I printed out a squirrel BB target from the internet and attached it to the BB Trap, which actually comes with a little piece of velcro, in the event you would like to use that to attach targets. Tape works good too.

Key points in my first “official” training session with my three year old boy were:

1. Properly holding of the pistol.
2. Keeping fingers off the trigger until ready to fire.
3. Always pointing the gun down until ready to fire. We’ll work on always pointing the gun down range and clearing the pistol in the next session.
4. Aiming. This one was tough!

So, instead of the typical household shooting training of, “Don’t point the gun at people sweety,” we’ve taken it a few steps further. Hopefully, with more practice, firearm safety will become second nature to him.

In closing, the BB Trap worked perfectly and was later used as an actual “pup tent!” You can’t beat shooting and playing in forts! Here’s the link for it on Amazon: http://amztk.com/airsofttarget

Here’s a little video I shot of my training experience:

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In fact, the NRA does a great job at breaking things down on the privacy policy at http://grabagun.com/.

So here we go. Let’s go over the very basic rules of handling a firearm.

Gun Safety for Dummies, Newbies and Everyone Else

1. NEVER, point the gun at yourself or anyone else. This includes troubleshooting your weapon on a misfire. Should the round not go off, please, DO NOT look down the barrel to see what might have happened. It may very well be the last thing you do.This also means that you’re not spinning the pistol around your finger like you’re in the wild wild west.
2. Always keep the gun pointed down range, whether it is loaded or not. If someone happens to be down range, remove your finger from the trigger, remove the magazine and the remaining round in the chamber and place your firearm on the table or in its holster.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are absolutely ready to fire, whether the weapon is loaded or not. This means that you know where you target is, you are aiming at it and ready to shoot. This also means that you are aware of others near you and where they are. (They should be behind you!)
4. NEVER assume that someone is finished firing their weapon. Stay beside or behind them until they are empty and have cleared their firearm.
5. Guns and alcohol don’t mix. Enough said.

Some of you more experienced shooters know exactly why things have to be so plain and clear. People just don’t think sometimes and do stupid things. I learned this at a very young age. You don’t even need a firearm to nearly kill yourself or someone else. All you need is a single bullet and a rock to hit it with. My brothers friend exploded a bullet that way, lodging a piece of shrapnel within an inch of his heart.

While in the military, I witnessed soldiers attempting to load ammunition backwards into their magazine, only to be all out tackled by a drill sergeant for swinging his rifle back towards everyone while out on the range. Seriously, I didn’t realize how basic it has to become in teaching a newbie how to shoot.

Sites? What are those?

So, if you’re new to firearms, even the most experienced shooters follow these gun safety guidelines. Don’t ever think you’re too cool or that we’re just being uptight. There’s very little margin for error.

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Gunsite Academy is a firearm training facility to a variety of gunners, such as elite military personnel, law enforcement officers and citizens of the good old USA.

I love what they say on their site about the responsibilities of owning a firearm. I quote:

We knowledgeable Americans take our rights very seriously, and the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States guarantees each citizen the right to keep and bear arms.  However, with each right comes an equal responsibility to discharge that right effectively, legally, safely and within the bounds of morality.  Rights demand responsibility.

Owning a piano does not make one a pianist any more than owning a handgun makes one a good shooter. Only an effective, safe and authoritative program of study can guarantee that in a moment of danger YOU will act to protect yourself, your loved ones or the ones you are sworn to.

Gunsite Academy offers various firearm training such marksmanship, combat training, hunting and close combat use. They have courses for training in different types of firearms such as pistols, carbine, rifle, shotgun and specialty weapons. Their facility is a 2000 acre parcel that offers a friendly yet challenging atmosphere that will drive you to excel.

You do have to fill out an application to attend and they require either a CCW permit, LE background check or active duty military or police ID. I didn’t see pricing for their course tuition on the site so you may have to call to find out more. They require half of the tuition up front in order to schedule you for a course.

Their phone number is (928) 636-4565 and once again, their site is Gunsite.com

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