My son was eight years old when he fired his first machine gun. It was an MP5 9mm automatic that a nice man at the range offered to let him fire.
I stood behind him, helping his little hands control the weapon, and the gentleman stood next to me, also behind my son, guiding him.
Danny had been exposed to firearms since he was probably four years old. He knew gun safety rules before he learned how to tie his shoelaces. Prior to his range trip, he had fired numerous firearms under supervision, and I felt he was ready to try something new that day.
Not everyone thinks that children should be taught to use these firearms, let alone semi-automatic rifles. Two hoplophobic imbeciles last month introduced separate bills – one in the Senate, and one in the House – nauseatingly named the Help End Assault Rifle Tragedies (HEART) Act to prevent young people from using these firearms.
We’ll discuss these noxious proposals more in depth in a separate article. For now, we’d like to know when you believe is a good time to introduce youngsters to automatic weapons.
I’m extraordinarily happy with the poll results so far. G-d’s natural law is indeed alive.
Children and not meat, ground out by the state, to be made all equal. Each child should be raised up in the way that THEY should go, not the way their parents want them to go, following their natural and given abilities. If parents look in the mirror they should easily understand if their child has say, pro football abilities coming his way. Children should be well rounded and afforded exploration of every vocation and avocation but if they ain’t no good at the violin after a considerable go then first chair is out. Same for academics.
Every child is fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of our creator, not our image and certainly not that of the state. but what do I know.
My two boys were 10 and 12 when they first fired sub guns. My purpose was to teach them how hard it is to keep full auto’s fed. They had to load the magazines. It got old real fast.
It’s about the kid.
Size, training, and maturity matter, just like with adults.
I hold multiple instructor credentials and I’ve worked at a range that rents everything from Glock 18’s to belt fed weapons. Would I trust most adults to fire a Glock 18? Nope, not without training and starting with 2-3 rounds in the gun. My son, for his 12th birthday fired a Thompson, which he was fully able to control. By age 12, he had been shooting for 7 years, and shooting everything- multiple calibers of semi-auto pistols, revolvers, and shotguns, as well as AR’s and bolt action rifles.
I love watching kids at a local machine gun shoot I go too, especially when they get behind a Ma Deuce!
They are having good clean fun! But it gets expensive when you have to pay for the ammo!
The youngest child I’ve had shoot a squirt gun is a 6 year old who managed quite well shooting a full sized UZI (with the stock folded). He had already been well trained by his dad and understood what to do, and more importantly what not to do.
Both dad and I were very close just in case things might go wonky, but nothing untoward occurred.
He’s a fine young man now.
Also, belt fed emma gees seem almost custom made for 9 year olds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMhzh8Sc6xc