Early Age Child Firearm Safety Training

Kids don't play in traffic or touch a hot stove at an early age because we instill that caution and knowledge in the brains at a very early age. Firearm safety and training are no different. I don't think there is such a thing as starting too early.

I consider myself an experienced resource on this matter.

I have been around guns all my life. My baby crib was in the same room as my father's gun safe (a wooden cabinet with a glass door) and his shotgun shell reloading station. I don't know how early I started shooting. My father gave me my first rifle and shotgun when I was 11. He instilled a message in my head, then insisted I be trustworthy with the responsibility. I am still very proud of that decision, and I never veered off course from the trust he had in me. When I was 16, I received a Remington 870 and a wall-mounted gun rack. He moved my guns to my room above my bed, further instilling the trust and responsibility of gun ownership. He didn't just teach me, he rewarded my behavior with additional responsibility. 

Times have changed since then. 

Later in life

I started raising three kids as a single father when they were 6, 4, and 3. When they were young, I placed an unloaded pistol in the center of the room, on the floor, and taught them that if they ever encountered a gun, they were not to touch it and they were to let the closest adult know that there is a gun near them. I explained the damage it could do to a person and the devastation their bad choices would cause to our family. I was graphic with my descriptions, I wanted this image to be planted in their heads for the rest of their life. I never had any safety issues with any of my children during the entire time I raised them. I asked my son to reflect on the experiences he had with guns growing up. 

Here is my son's testimonial: 

Firearm safety has been so deeply engraved into me for so long that I can hardly even remember the roots of it, so bear with me.

The  biggest things I do remember are:

I was familiarized with firearms early on, shown how they function, taught how to properly handle them, and explained the destruction they could cause.

I remember being told explicitly that if I was to ever find a gun of any kind in any setting I was to report it to my father IMMEDIATELY and to never touch it.

I can say the biggest and most crucial implication of firearm safety in our childhood was that we NEVER had access to any firearm including air-powered, without absolute supervision.

They were always locked up and inaccessible. Which to this day I believe to be the absolute most important safety measure to abide by with children and firearms residing in the same household.

I hope this article inspires you to teach the next generation of firearm enthusiasts, hunters, and shooters the importance of safety and lifts the "age limit" for safety training. Start them early, teach them the dangers, and instill firearm respect into their minds at an early age. Don't play in traffic and don't touch a hot stove are easy to teach to our children, and I think firearm safety is just as simple.