[Tom357]

I've been trying to get my daughters into a youth gun safety course for a couple of years, now. The course is inexpensive, and the instructor is great, but he only takes one student at a time. You have to sign up months in advance, and the girls have not been interested enough to commit themselves. I figure if they are that lukewarm, then I'm not going to push it. They know the basic safety rules from what I've taught them at home, but range rules require that they take the safety course, first. There are no other ranges in the area where I can take them.

They just got back from a two week visit to relatives in KY and TN. My uncle operates a brand new range (Sport Shooters) in Madisonville, KY. He took them shooting, giving them private range time before the range opened, one morning. What a treat! They got to shoot a Walther P22 (.22 semiauto), a Glock 19 (9mm), an S&W 317 (.22 8-shot revolver) and a Beretta CX4 (9mm carbine). They got home during the day on Friday, and when I got home from work, my youngest greeted me at the door with a quick hug, and then ran upstairs to get her targets. She was thrilled and so proud. They shot the handguns at 25' and the carbine at 100'.

On one hand, I wish I had been there and that he had asked permission, first, but on the other, I'm so glad they had such a positive experience. I know he would not do anything to jeopardize them. My younger daughter shot 30 rounds and kept a 4" group, except for two fliers. My older daughter kept it to about 6". Suddenly, they are very interested in making time for the range safety course, and they really want to go shooting with me.

 

[Team American]

Glad they had a positive experience...wish I had a relative with an indoor shooting range :biggrin:

Nurture that interest and turn'em into safe, knowledgable shooters. It'll teach them a skill that can be rewarding and beneficial.

Soooo, which firearms will you be buying for their first guns? :diablotin

 

[P95Carry]

Tom - sounds like they were in very good hands and it was a very fruitful experience for them. You don't mention their ages but I am assuming they are sorta teens.

Next step will be another similar practice run if poss but it must be another good step toward them sailing thru the safety course.

 

[cmidkiff]

I've got 4 daughters, ages 9-17. Introduced the 9yo to shooting my 10-22 this year. The others were all introduced around 10 or so. I'd consider all to be safe shooters, and they all seem to enjoy it, but keeping the 17yo interested in going to the range with dad is getting pretty tough.

I always advise people to keep your kids involved in _something_. Dosn't really matter what. Shooting's great. If you church has a youth/teens program, that's great too. School sports, music lessons... just something that keeps them interested and involved. Let your kids get bored and you're asking for trouble!

 

[Tom357]

...You don't mention their ages but I am assuming they are sorta teens...

Yep. 15 and 16 1/2. They are both very active in a variety of in-school and out-of-school activities, and volunteer work. Getting them to carve out the time has been the big challenge, and it seems they've decided it's important enough to them to do that.

 

[Bud White]

At least it was a good experiance and now they wanna shoot more which is a good thing ... Mean ya got to buy more guns

 

[Scott]

Good for you staying with it to get them some training. I train families sometimes. It is always fun and interesting. Almost always the girls do the best because they pay attention and don't have bad habits or preconceived ideas about shooting. I have no problem with multiple youths in class, but only one on the line at a time. The last family I trained was two girls and a boy. The girls have their own handguns now and the boy has a couple rifles. They all go shooting together, which I think is great.

-Scott-

 

[CLASS3NH]

My daughter of 20 yrs old loves to shoot with me. My older son (16) doesn't really get into it.BUT the 15 tr-old son......OMG...he's the guy that wants to clean everything after we shoot..even if it's not been shot.. Not a bad thig you know LOl

 

[Bumper]

Our daughter, now 22, also loves to shoot. When I took her to the range with our youngest son, who's 20, she decided real quick she liked the 1911 the best and is really a very good shot. Our son wants an XD-40 and plans on getting his CCW as soon as he turns 21 in September. Our daughter has the weirdest stance I have ever seen in my life, but it works so I kept my mouth shut. I gave both of them gift certificates for training last Christmas which they are saving for CCW class. :smile:

 

[P95Carry]

Both my own kids came to range from quite early ages - initially watching but gradually working thru the usual steps. By time they were in college they'd safely got to grips with most of my handguns - even trying the .44 just for s**** and giggles!

Time went by and they had very little chance to do much more shooting but glad to say, all their experience in youth stayed put and when my son got his GP-100 a few years back, he was happy as a pig in poop - and it was as if he had not had such a time lapse from the range.

Below is one of my fave pics of my daughter shooting - here she is two years ago vacationing here with her old man - not having shot for I don't know how long. She is putting some rounds thru P97 here and doing very well - again, early exposure and training pays off. She only wishes she could own and shoot in UK (fat chance regretably).

Now she has a child, and it will be some time before she gets over to shoot again but I'll all but guarantee, next time she pics up one of the handguns, she'll be right into gear again and doing well. Might get a tad rusty but it is like riding a biuke - start early and lay foundations.

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odd - despite img tags the pic is not displaying properly right now - grrr!