My 6 year old too young???

[nayton59]

one of my sons has really taken a strong interest in my airgun shooting, he has had a few sessions with me in our garden and i couldnt belive how good of a shot he is!! safety is of course the most inportant thing in this situation i thought i had better add.... and he is exstemley grown up for his age.
My local rifle range which is about 2 mins drive away will let him come and watch me but isnt allowed to shoot because there insurance states you have to be over 9. This is a real shame as he is so keen and my other older children arent really interested. Im sure that profesonal target shooters must have started at a young age but how???
opinons??? do you think he is too young???

[exmoor beast]

I know my lad is to young at 8, my biggest fear is a child has a short attention span & they have been known to forget everything you tell them about safe gun handling in a blink of an eye if distracted.
I friend of mine was at a rough shoot & a fourteen year old (a clay pigeon junior champion ) shot a guy in the back.
Awful for the kid/Dad & the poor bugger who got blasted.
The decision is ultimately yours but with that goes the responsibility.
Ask anyone who has had a gun since childhood if they ever did anything bloody silly with it & I think you know the answer!

[Rutty]

there insurance states you have to be over 9

That sounds more like a club rule rather than a restrictive clause in their insurance policy. However if you are going to have a lower age limit 9 is probably a reasonable stab at it and it would seem that you are going to have to live with it for the time being at least.

My personal view is that there should be no age limit, although from experience 12 is about the age when most children are capable of comprehending the safety procedures and techniques, have developed the necessary degree of coordination and can concentrate sufficiently. As parental involvement is important at this age, children with shooting parents can start earlier. But it is vital that the children do it because they enjoy it, not because they think it is expected of them or they are pushed into it.

Under 14 years of age, children must be supervised on a one to one basis when handling guns of any sort. Supervision is a problem that most clubs have some difficulty with, it's OK if the parents are members and can take full responsibility for their own children, but ensuring the availability of proper supervision for juniors can stretch a club's resources. Another issue is that young teenagers tend to flit from one activity to another. It may not matter too much if you are running a basketball club but a rifle club has to expend considerable time and effort in every new member and if they disappear after a few months it becomes very frustrating.

Rutty

[Rich]

NSRA affiliation and insurance states age limits of 9 to 80.

It's a shame but there has to be a limit somewhere. We have a father and son as would-be members waiting for the lad's birthday, and we've had to turn down a good friend of mine who wanted to join us and shoot our indoor range, as he has passed his 80th.

[McTrucky]

Age is a funny thing - some at 6 might be fine, while others at 26 are too young...

I was shooting at that age, and you are correct that safety is paramount. The basic rules drilled into me at that age about handling a gun with the belief that it was ALWAYS loaded meant that when I was older and got into Clay pigeon shooting (when I was about 9), and later into fullbore pistol, rifle, practical shotgun etc. there was never any concern or question over my ability to safely handle a gun.

I would suggest that you carry on training your son in the garden, and when he is ''old' enough to join a club they will think him a prodegy and that will be a great boost to him. Don't push him though, it needs to be fun, and on his terms at that age.

McT

[Rutty]

NSRA affiliation and insurance states age limits of 9 to 80.

That's interesting Rich, there's no mention of it on the affiliation forms. Could you point me towards the location of it?

Thanks,
Rutty

Edited to add the answer as supplied this morning by the NSRA:

The Age limits of 9-80 apply only to the Personal Accident cover supplied under NSRA Individual membership. Personal accident cover is not included in the policy supplied with the club's affiliation to the NSRA and therefore the exclusion does not apply. There are no age limit imposed by the NSRA Regulations or the NSRA associated CLUB insurance policy.

Therefore I stand by my statement made in response to the Original Post:

That sounds more like a club rule rather than a restrictive clause in their insurance policy

and

we've had to turn down a good friend of mine who wanted to join us and shoot our indoor range, as he has passed his 80th.

It is not the NSRA that's stopping him becoming a member of the club or an individual member of the association. The only benefit he would not get is the Personal Accident element.

Rutty

Rutty

[Rich]

Thanks for the clarification. It opens up some new possibilities.

[cmcintosh]

I've just posted a similar question in the general section. My daughter is 7 and already shoots (practice) air pistols for pony club events - the actual competitions are only open to 8+ year olds. Having been to a few of these I can't see any issue with well supervised youngsters in this environment.

I'm actually thinking about letting my 5 1/2 year old have a go now!

[urban winter]

My 8 year old son (nearly 9 now) shoots my Ruger 10/22 off a rest at my club. He has also been clay shooting with an instructor at Bisley but he's not quite strong enough for that yet. My 5 year old daughter has had a couple of goes at shooting my air pistol off a cushion/table in the back garden (and can hit a pellet tin at 6 yards). I use cleaning pellets with her because she is not reliable enough yet for real pellets.

Both children shoot under my close supervision - and by "close" I mean close enough that I could take control of the weapon in a moment if they were to forget the rules.

U.

[goblin357]

We had 9 and 10 year olds from the pony club at our range and they were some of the safest shooters we had, shouting at the other members if they forgot to put on the red lights etetc.
Our oldest member was still competing (and winning) at 95 so age is no problem.

I've just posted a similar question in the general section. My daughter is 7 and already shoots (practice) air pistols for pony club events - the actual competitions are only open to 8+ year olds. Having been to a few of these I can't see any issue with well supervised youngsters in this environment.

I'm actually thinking about letting my 5 1/2 year old have a go now!

[hwtyger]

Yr in the UK that different from our situation.
In the uk, at try-out ranges, you see very young quite often.
I'm a dutch trainer, but I dont start under about 11yrs..And many gunclubs have min age of 12 or even 16.
Why? Because they lack strength, and usually dont have a clúe what they're doing. They're not serieus yet(often still real kids), cant really concentrate yet, and dont understand the responsibility well enough. I didnt at that age anyway.. Yr still handling weapons, not toys.
Dont say its not póssible, but its too risky for me.

[mag357357]

My grandson 10 year old is a gun nut, plays on his PS2 with mates and knows more about different guns than I do. Taking him plinking this weekend with air rifle.

[ganp]

My grandson 10 year old is a gun nut, plays on his PS2 with mates and knows more about different guns than I do. Taking him plinking this weekend with air rifle.

Kody, my nine year old grandson is just the same and loves PS3/XBox war games. He also seems to know just about every military weapon there is.

But getting wounded or killed in those games has no lasting consequences and I find that disturbing. The consequences of shooting in a game and of shooting a real gun may not be readily appreciated by more impressionable youngsters - or even some, so called, adults. So if the interest is there I think a proper introduction, while young, to shooting and safe practice can help put things into perspective.

Kody and his eleven year old sister sometimes come to the club with me and shoot my FT rifle from a bench, taking great delight in hitting 60 yarders on the zero range.

And he is rightly proud of his nine shot group at 20yds.





They're not very into it but just like to come along now and then and have a go.

Just as well as they put my shooting to shame.


Colin.