Kids and Guns

Josey1

i just saw a qoute at the bottom of a post a that said in effect teach a kid to shoot. very good idea. if you have ever wanted to help teach kids to shoot there are many ways to help and one of them is through the boy scouts of america. each summer ever district (usually a neighhood) has a one week summer day camp program for cub scouts (ages 6 to 10). since 1988 a have been operating a bb gun range for the raven district, sam houston area council in houston texas, teaching cub scouts proper firearms safety, handling and marksmanship.

this is a way i combine both of my interest into one. it is a very rewarding experence. any one with an interest in firearms and helping kids can be trained to do this. so contact your local boy scout office and offer your help.

if any one wants to ask me any questions e-mail me at bgoforth@ev1.net

Josey1

Kids and Guns






Have a gun in the house? Have children in the house? Then please keep tabs on both.
Over the course of the last few weeks, four incidents involving guns and minors have been investigated in three schools and one child-care setting. While it is rare that such incidents occur so closely together, and the combined total represents a fraction of a percent of gun owners, the events warrant a reminder to parents and all gun owners to exercise some vigilance.
Owning a deadly weapon means ensuring that the weapon is secure, whether at home or on one's person. Being a parent, gun-owning or not, means teaching kids about the appropriate use of guns and the potential risks.
Each of the recent incidents involved accidents, brief moments of not paying attention. Moments when a 4-year-old grabbed a gun, ran to another house and fired at playmates. Moments when a 10-year-old managed to sneak a gun out of his father's truck and take it to school. Moments when a gun was unknowingly dropped on school grounds, only to be found by three sixth-grade students. Moments when a 15- and 16-year-old passed a loaded weapon between them on a school bus. Each moment could have ended in tragedy. Thankfully, none did.
What is necessary now is for all gun owners to review their practices for storing and carrying their weapons. Kids, whether 4 or 14, are curious about guns. If they see one on a person or in a drawer, chances are they will want a closer look. If there are kids around, the gun owner needs to be certain that the children do not have access to the weapon and its ammunition. Finding one could be dangerous, finding both could be fatal.
The potential damage that could have been inflicted in the four cases was extremely high and completely avoidable. Children must be taught about guns, but even the most knowledgeable still must rely on adults to guard against the kinds of tragic accidents that could have occurred these past few weeks http://www.sltrib.com/05062002/Opinion/Opinion.htm


"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Josey1

A good friend had a home invasion in his court and he called me all upset and wanting to get a pistol. He's got a 12 year old girl, a 2 year old boy, and is planning on having another. His wife is a nice woman but not really the most logical and reasonable. Sometimes, rarely, she has a bit to drink. My buddy is a good guy but not always the most careful and disciplined.

I talked to him about how I have a very expensive safe that opens on a fingerprint scan, how I bolted it to a shelf, how even so I am a bit worried that eventually my 2 year old could figure it out / bash it open. I told him how if he gets a gun he'll need to be super careful, that he can't even make one mistake.

"Sure, sure," he tells me.

Then I read this in the paper this morning.

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Police: Boy, 3, accidentally shoots, kills father in Indiana home after finding his loaded gun
By Associated Press, Published: July 14
SALEM, Ind. - Police say a 3-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his father after finding the man's loaded handgun in a southern Indiana home.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin says the 33-year-old Martinsville man had brought his gun with him Friday to a home he was remodeling in Salem, about 25 miles northwest of Louisville, Ky.

Goodin says the man, his wife, their three children and a juvenile relative were at the home when the 3-year-old boy apparently found the gun and it accidentally discharged, fatally wounding the man. No one else was injured.

Goodin says the case remains under investigation and prosecutors will determine if any adult should face charges. He calls the case a "tragic accident and a tragic mistake" of leaving a gun within a child's reach.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Sitting her thinking about it, my one buddy has had a negligent discharge where he shot a hole through a window. My other buddy as a child was left alone for a moment in the same room as his FBI agent father's duty pistol and came walking out into the kitchen waving it around. My other friend has had guns all his life and has never had a problem, at least that I know of.

So what do I tell my buddy? "Ok, I'll help you out but only if you promise to be super careful and buy the right safe and so forth." Or do I tell him, "You're a great guy but honestly I'm not 100% sure you're responsible enough to keep a gun in the house. Get a much better lock for your door and a noisy dog." I just don't know.

And a mitigating circumstance is that he's asked me to guide him through the process, show him how to use a gun, etc. I know he can go off and do all of this on his own, but if I helped him through the process and something awful happened, I would feel very responsible. I'm really conflicted about this.