Advice on educating a teenager about firearm in house

Hunter Safety course first.

They need some very basic level understanding of the rules.

And you need to pound into them the primary rule.

Always treat all guns as if they are loaded.

That needs to be stressed to that absolute limits of their endurance because teenagers that didn't grow up having that pounded into them are fricking stupid and they think, 'yeah no problem, got it' and next thing you know they're sweeping you with the finger on the trigger.

That should elicit at the very least a verbal beat down.

That's really the key.

There are no unloaded guns. Doesn't matter if you just checked it. It's loaded. Period.

I'd also do the watermelon trick with them and milk jugs and what have you so they get a visual representation of them blowing their mom's head off because they forgot that rule.

And then take them shooting. A lot. Till that shite is just no big deal for them. But the rules about handling firearms at the house are absolutely no handling without permission unless it's to save their lives from an intruder and you're already dead or something along those lines.

It's a good time to get them to realize you're giving them a level of respect that they have earned. They like that. And they'll keep it if you do it right. You do it wrong and half arse it and they're the most dangerous thing you will ever be around.

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Everyone else took some of the best ideas.

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Except one: Chew his ever loving arse every time you catch him violating the safety rules.

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Always treat all guns as if they are loaded.

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Yea this probably needs to go to the top of the list

I'm a total nazi on that subject.

You want to shoot with me, you better not ever sweep me.

Ever.

Because it's gonna get uncomfortable immediately if you do.

Kind of late to get in the game as a teenager but take the interest away. I remember as a kid playing with my dad's revolver when I was early teens and pulling the hammer back. I did not know how to safely put the hammer back down and that was the point that scared me most. I knew it was loaded and didn't know how to make it safe again.

Back to the advice, take them to shoot. If they show interest in it, let them handle it and be a part of cleaning them so they have more time around them to get the curiosity out.

Do all of the above but also bring him to shoot a lot so that there is no mystery about firearms. My kids grew up in the country so they shot nearly every day of their lives. I leave loaded guns around my house with no worries because my kids are well versed in firearm safety and they have no desire to touch a weapon unless they plan on hunting or shooting a target. Problems occur, in my opinion, when there is a mystery about firearms and a kid wants to show a friend. If a weapon is like a tooth brush to your child they won't care and they will know to get the hell out if they are at a friend's house and a pistol is brought out by that friend.

entrance wounds and exit wounds, stick his finger in them. Make sure he knows the carnage a bullet can create.

take him out and have him watch a living creature die from a single pull of the trigger.

and although I agree with everyone that a gun should always be treated as loaded, I personally believe the most important rule is Muzzle Control.

If the gun is always pointed in a safe direction then no one can ever be injured with it.


after teaching is completed, test the teaching and reinforce it on a regular basis.

Place semiauto on the counter with mag unloaded but in gun and slide closed. ASSURE THE GUN IS EMPTY!. Then wait and observe what happens.


My rule, you dont touch a firearm without verbal permission for each instance.

I could see that.

I just dont want it to be implied.

When I ask my boys "what is the first rule" the answer must be keep muzzle in safe direction.