Can a teenager use firearms for home protection?

[CowboyColby]

Really? You can't leave a 14 year old home alone? Wow things have changed alot. My babysisters used to not be any older than that and by like teh age of 8 I was alone in the house for like couple hours. Granted we live in the middle of nowhere and could only go as far as my horse or three wheeler (the kind with a motor) would take me and I usually had my .22 Henry with me.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[varob]

What? Says who?

Yeah. in Va. the home alone age is 12 or 13. But I probably wouldn't let a kid that age have access to firearms.

[rjpkrp]

...Leaving any child under the age of 18 home alone is illegal and you can be prosecuted...

Hmmm....What about all of those 16 and 17yo baby-sitters? I believe the home alone age here is 12 & up. Might want to check your facts. While it MAY be true in your state, it varies from state to state.


EDIT: actually in NY there is NO SET AGE LIMIT for leaving children unattended at home. There are only a handful of states that actually set limits, most are just recommendations.

Found Reference here

[ep1953]

Leaving any child under the age of 18 home alone is illegal and you can be prosecuted.

Check out the following:

http://www.latchkey-kids.com/latchke...age-limits.htm


Guess I should have read a little further.... looks like rjpkrp beat me to it. :)

[farronwolf]

Can't believe no one has mentioned this ... but leaving a 14-yr old at home alone is opening yourself up to a lot of legal issues on its own, specifically "endangering the welfare of a child". Leaving any child under the age of 18 home alone is illegal and you can be prosecuted. While generally speaking, a minor using a weapon in self-defense is not a problem ... you are leaving yourself open to a litany of charges should that minor have been alone at the time of the incident.

If there's a break in and you've bunkered down in a bedroom and given a guns to your wife and step-son and he happens to be the one to shoot the intruder .... I doubt anyone could or would charge you with anything.

Really, Texas has no specific age at which they determine that a child can be left alone. It isn't 10, 12, 14, it is all based on the particular child and circumstances which they were left alone.

BTW, the answer to the orginal post was given by Dale64. Everyone that has their Texas CHL should have covered this in their class. There are specific exceptions written in the Texas Statutes that allow minors to have access to and use handguns for certain purposes. Learn the laws of your particular state.

[jwhite75]

Of course they can. When deadly force is warranted, all bets are off. The flip side is, if they make a mistake, guess who will be held responsible?

This is the other side of the double edged sword.

[oneshot]

Sec. 46.13. MAKING A FIREARM ACCESSIBLE TO A CHILD. (a) In this section:

(c) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the child's access to the firearm:

(2) consisted of lawful defense by the child of people or property;

^^^^There's your answer in bold, for the state of Texas.

[ruger9315]

My .02 cents worth..
Change the safes combination.
Even if you feel this child is very responsible, has knowledge of firearms, and is very intelligent. It is not a good idea to let him have access to the firearms. A 14 year old child simply does not have the maturity to handle all situations that arise, pure pressure from friends would be one good example.. Just look at how friends pressure friends to do dumb thinks all the time.. This does not say that the one being pressured is dumb, it just means they made bad choices, and when dealing with a firearm that could potentially kill a person if in the wrong hands ( again pure pressure ) then you would be held responsible. You go to the store. This 14 year old has friends over and they pressure him into showing them the firearms , and one of the other kids picks it up ( keep in mind your 14 year old is knowledgeable of firearms but his friend is not ) they pick it up and accidental shoots his buddy or even your kid. Yea he simply made a bad choice, even with all the knowledge he has with firearms . His maturity level just was not up to pare sort of say ... again not saying your 14 year old is not mature enough to handle firearms , nor to say he is dumb, or irresponsible , just saying he is 14 ( I have a 15 and a 19 year old , neither of them know I even own a gun ( 5 of them ) and they would definitely not know the combination to it )
Take my advise , Change the combination and simply enjoy the times that you have shooting with him.. For self defense take him to the local martial arts school..

[adric22]

I don't think I can add much to what has already been said other than to summarize the tripple-edged sword dilemma:

1. Leave your child home with a gun and he/she may be able to use it to defend themselves, all is well, no legal consequence.
2. Leave your child at home with no gun, he/she may be assaulted/killed and you'll wish you had let them access to a gun.
3. Leave your child at home with a gun and he/she plays with it and accidentally shoots themselves or someone else and you can be charged with allowing a minor access to a gun.

So there is no good answer. I've pondered these same questions for myself. My 8 year old is never left alone at home at this point, so it is not an issue yet. But I imagine by the time she is 14 I will be leaving her at home alone on occasion. So this will become an issue at some point for me too. I wish I had a better answer.

[Pinger]

I think I'd rather see a kid use a weapon for HD than not. I don't think there'd be a jury anywhere that would convict a kid for using a firearm in defense of his home, especially if it was a life-and-death situation. There was an incident in CA some years ago where a naked man wielding a pitchfork invaded a home and stabbed a toddler to death; the older sister was proficient in firearms but the gun safe was locked and she did not have a key. Parents were away.

[Twoglocks]

I've red somwhere on Internet about the boy defending the house from home invasion. He actually wounded the perp with 22 LR rifle and evrybody said "Ata Boy"

[dukalmighty]

Actually had an 11 year old used a firearm to protect his family during a home invasion in South Texas,They actually praised the kid for saving his family,so in a SD situation a child can use a firearm,the problem is if the kid isn't responsible enough and gets caught outside the home with a gun,or has friends over and they get some guns out.
When I was a Kid I had my own guns in my bedroom

[ErnieNWillis]

I don't know of any law anywhere that prohibits anyone, regardless of age, from using any means attainable to defend their life. There may be side issues re access/possession, but not relative to defending themself in a justified situation.

There was a thread a while back about a teenager using his LE father's duty rifle against burglars/home invaders but I can't locate it at the moment. IIRC there were no repercussions.

As previously posted seek legal advice.

Yep happened to a Harris County Deputy Sherriffs son right here in Houston, TX.

[Eagleks]

OMG, I stayed home by myself since I was 8 yrs old. At 14 if someone thought they needed to be home to babysit me, I would have really been insulted.

There's 2 sides to this;

1. Him playing with them (no matter what you say) and having an ND and doing harm to himself in the process.
2. Him taking one out to "show his buddies" ,
3. Him being able to protect himself.

You have to weight the pro's and con's, and be realistic about it.

I had 2 kids in Scouts who were good boys, responsible, 1 was 14 and 1 was 16, their father a police officer. They were extremely well versed in guns and very safe with them. However, one day (Dad / Mom upstairs) they were messing with a shotgun.... one of them was handing it off to the other and didn't make sure he had a hold of it.... so the gun dropped. One of them tried to grab it ... hitting the trigger, and it was loaded and blew a big hole in his brother's chest, obviously killing him.

So, you and him, have to live with the consequences if anything goes badly.

My son, I told him if there is an emergency and someone is breaking in while you are home, lock yourself in my room and then call me quick.... and "then" I'll tell you the combination or where I had it written down and hidden.

My room , is a secure room.