Toy gun as training device for youngsters

[A-R]

So I've decide NOT to get the kids a BB gun this Christmas. Probably wait one more year. We're traveling to California to see my in laws, so just more trouble than it's worth (wouldn't be able to shoot it in their little backyard anyway). And my kids aren't quite old enough - daughter is 4 1/2, son just turned 2.

But my daughter is showing an interesting in learning more about shooting. So I noticed this at Target today and thought it might be a good first gun training tool

http://www.amazon.com/Double-Shot-Rifle ... B000IGAC8G" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyone else have one of these for their kids? It seems to function like a real gun - break-open, double-barrel long gun and the Nerf "darts" load into little plastic "cases" then into the gun, which fires them under light spring pressure, then actually EJECTS the "spent cases" when gun is broke open again - HOW COOL IS THAT?

Anyway, if anyone has something like this and has used it for this purpose let me know your thoughts/experience. I plan to treat this as a "real gun" with the kids, might even store it in the gun safe to give it that "real" feeling. They would only be allowed to use it when daddy is with them and if they ever point it at a person etc., I'll correct them just as sternly as if they pointed a real BB gun or firearm at someone. Thinking this is perfect for teaching them the four rules and then next year move up to BB guns, then .22 rifle after that.

[Crossfire]

Forget the kids. I want one!

[A-R]

Forget the kids. I want one!

me too!

go to YouTube and search "buzz bee nerf guns" ... you'll be blown away. There is a whole arsenal of these little Nerf dart guns available. Most of the others at Target looked like something out of a sci-fi movie like "Aliens" or something. But on Amazon and elsewhere they sell other realistic-functioning guns like a bolt-action rifle (apparently now out of production), a lever-action rifle, and something resembling a chain-fed machine gun that apparently will burn through 200 "rounds" in a minute or so.

Glad to see American youngsters are still allowed to go out in the backyard and "play guns" like I did growing up.

[stroo]

Not that gun, but similar ones are what I started my son out on a few years ago. Can"t say he really learned the rules though until he started shooting pellet guns.

[tauruspt145]

Got the same gun for a nephew, only complaint is when you break it open it uses a string attached from barrel to stock to recock the gun. little bit tough for the four year old had to help him out. Everything else was fun though and you can buy them at walmart.

[garcia946]

My son has one of those , has one with the 12 shot barrel , he loves all the nerf guns and always sees more that he wants.
We run around the house playing games with one another.Shooting things that he sets ups.
even has a nerf gun with glow in the dark darts , I must say we have lots of fun with all them.

[Hoi Polloi]

In my house growing up, all guns were treated as if they were real including toy guns (ones that looked like guns, not the silly versions). Young children just don't have the knowledge or experience to be able to discern toy from real and have to be taught to rely on your guidance until they are experienced enough to rely on their own. (A real life lesson, applicable to many areas, not just firearms.) The age at which they will be able to handle it with minimal intervention varies depending on personality, maturity, exposure, etc but most gun groups say it is somewhere between 9-12 with active supervision and 13-18 with passive supervision. And even we adults are taught that we can't completely rely on our own past experiences but must check a gun several times over with our own eyes to verify that it is clear.

I don't think I'd treat the toy gun exactly the same way as a real one. With respect as a symbol, yes, but not with the same reverence. I'd have the solemnity around the occasion of using it, not around the gun itself. You want to teach them to tell them apart and be able to discern for themselves. Treating them as equals defeats your end purpose.

I'd keep it up in your closet or wherever is out of sight and convenient for you and would pull it out whenever you are going to "play" gun with them. When you're going to the range, making a play range at home, cleaning guns, whenever it is that you're going to use it with them. What you're basically proposing is using the Montessori method. At their ages, I'd have a routine surrounding it. You always say these words, produce the gun like this, remind them of the rules (preferably in few words accompanied by hand/body motions which they'll remember better--you can use the same ones on Eddie Eagle so that he's reinforcing what you do if you choose to use that program with them), go out and do whatever it is you're going to do for about 5 minutes with the younger one and 10-15 minutes with the older one (this should be as close to real as possible so it would include eye and ear protection and whatever other "gear" comes with the territory, should be encouraging and fun, and should be emotionally safe to explore), then have a wrap-up ritual where you say how much fun it is to practice safely with them, remind them of the rules, and thank them for playing with you before you go put it up in the closet for another day. The Cornered Cat has a great complimentary way of how to handle real fire arms with them, too.

If it came up, I'd be clear with them that their gun is a play gun to practice safety and that when they can practice safely they would be able to learn how to use a real gun, too. The wouldn't have to, but they'd be allowed to. If they thought that they would lose their special Daddy time or their toy gun, to have it replaced with gun time--especially if gun time were built up as being more solemn or less fun--they might intentionally be immature or disobedient to try to keep the toy and Daddy time. By explaining it this way when they're ready, it establishes that you expect it to be treated as a real one, that it isn't real, why you're doing that, where you want to see them progress to, and that it isn't an either/or prospect that if they do everything correctly on the toy that they loose it, but that they can gain another option for special time with you--without all those words. If they're not asking or talking about the difference between the real ones and the toy, they probably aren't developmentally able to understand that concept. But when they do ask, that's how I'd handle it.

That's just my two cents. I hope something is of value, and if not, then just disregard it all.

[A-R]

HP, that was a great post. Thank you for that wisdom.

[RHenriksen]

Kids are all different! My nephew has been living w. us since he turned 5, and he's 10 now. He has had those kinds of nerf guns (I'm jealous - they're cool) for years, and my only rule has been to *not* shoot me in the face. Other than that, they're fun toys, and -- ye Gods -- how can you have fun playing soldier w. a NERF GUN if you can't shoot your sister in the butt?

On the other hand, he's welcome to handle REAL guns any time he wants, goes shooting, etc, but he knows that's an entirely different can of worms. He's NEVER violated the 4 rules of gun safety, and he has a great time when we're at the range.

[CompVest]

RHENRIKSEN