Originally Posted By: Riflemann To each his own guys, you are the ones that have to live with yourself if something goes wrong....But My kids were 10 before they shot any of my guns.
Maybe your kids weren't ready to shoot before the age of 10. Mine were.
Don't try to put me and mine in the same category as you and yours. Or maybe it's just that you didn't have enough faith in them and teach them early enough. Just because you are a firearms instructor doesn't mean squat to a lot of us. I'm not trying to be an azz, just trying to point out that you apparently don't know everything. What if something went wrong when your kids were, say 13. Would that make it better than something going wrong with my 8 year old?
My first son shot at a very early age, learned it well and is now a very, very good shot, very responsible individual. He went on to shoot 50 caliber machine guns from the deck of the USS Enterprise.
My daughter learned a bit later in age. My third born (son) was not as ready as my first son, so he is currently learning at age 8. There's just a difference in children and in their maturity level as most adults know. He held my AR at age 4, didn't shoot it, but became aware of "real" vs "toy." At age 8 he shot it for the first time, 3-shot group at 25 yards of 1.25 inches. That's not too shabby for a kid. He loved every minute of it.
I don't appreciate your insinuation that if something goes wrong, that I will have to live with it, as if I'm doing wrong and you are doing so right, Mr. firearms instructor.
By the way, I remember seeing a video of that black firearms instructor who strutted around in front of his class, and accidentally shot himself in the foot. There are firearms instructors and then there are firearms instructors.