Sounds good. I think the analogy to bike education is somewhat relevant. When I was president of the Hawaii Bicycling League, the statewide bicycle organization in Hawaii, I got familiar with HBL’s long established 4th Grade BikeEd program. We wait till 4th grade because we learned, or perhaps taught ourselves, that you needed to be 9-10 years old before it made any sense to teach kids how to ride safely on public roads. Even quiet public roads.
Indeed. I don't know what the lowest age is for allowing kids to swim or use a firearm unsupervised. Interesting to think about 9-10 for riding bikes on public roads unsupervised. That would be just before adolescence (or at it, depending on when the onset of puberty is these days), so that tracks.
I help run a Jr Rifle program at a local club. We often have kid as young as 8 because younger they usually can't really hold the rifle even though we small Marlin model 15s. But we have had 7yo shoot small .22 caliber pistols - single shot. And the look of joy most of the time is amazing. They also listened and paid attention to gun safety, 3-4 I think may be too young as they are too small for even the smallest of handguns.
Thanks, Rich. I think with 3-5 year olds it is bench shooting with adult assistance. Your experience is certainly more the norm. But I don't think that 3-5 year olds shooting is a black swan event. It does raise the question of how to address kids' natural curiosity about things that can harm them.
Sounds good. I think the analogy to bike education is somewhat relevant. When I was president of the Hawaii Bicycling League, the statewide bicycle organization in Hawaii, I got familiar with HBL’s long established 4th Grade BikeEd program. We wait till 4th grade because we learned, or perhaps taught ourselves, that you needed to be 9-10 years old before it made any sense to teach kids how to ride safely on public roads. Even quiet public roads.
Indeed. I don't know what the lowest age is for allowing kids to swim or use a firearm unsupervised. Interesting to think about 9-10 for riding bikes on public roads unsupervised. That would be just before adolescence (or at it, depending on when the onset of puberty is these days), so that tracks.
I help run a Jr Rifle program at a local club. We often have kid as young as 8 because younger they usually can't really hold the rifle even though we small Marlin model 15s. But we have had 7yo shoot small .22 caliber pistols - single shot. And the look of joy most of the time is amazing. They also listened and paid attention to gun safety, 3-4 I think may be too young as they are too small for even the smallest of handguns.
Thanks, Rich. I think with 3-5 year olds it is bench shooting with adult assistance. Your experience is certainly more the norm. But I don't think that 3-5 year olds shooting is a black swan event. It does raise the question of how to address kids' natural curiosity about things that can harm them.
When you mentioned "A Gun is Not a Toy," I immediately thought of Julie Golob's book "Toys, Tools, Guns & Rules".
https://www.amazon.com/Toys-Tools-Guns-Rules-Childrens/dp/0999645609/
It doesn't cover any earth-shattering material, but it is a simple way of initiating "the talk" with kids about guns.
Great call. This makes me think also of Rob Pincus' and Yehuda Rehmer's childrens books.
https://amzn.to/3YfmdOq
https://amzn.to/4ccLtdY