12 yo nephew wants to go to the range

[OnTheRoad]

I took my nephew to the range a year ago December, he was 17 at the time and had never been shooting. His family had come up from Virgina for the holidays, we had a couple hours so I brought him out, he listened and shot well. It was a good time.

Less than a year later he was killed in an accident at college. Turns out the couple hours at the range was the last time I would see my nephew.
http://collegiatetimes.com/stories/12757
Treasure every day.

 

[Maj. Boom Boom]

I'm sorry to hear that. At least you did have that time together which you can now draw on.

 

[Coyote33]

I suspect that a big part of the problem you observed is that he's got an airsoft gun that he considers to be nothing more than a toy, a view that his parents have enforced by their lack of safety enforcement. I'd skip the airsoft as a potential teaching tool and jump directly to a .22, drawing a sharp distinction between it and toys (without mentioning the airsoft). If he accepts the distinction and follows safe practices with the .22, I might then try to get him to treat the airsoft in a safer manner. The critical thing is that he recognizes the distinction between real guns and toy and behaves accordingly. Fine tuning that line for things like airsoft guns an BB guns is important, but much less so.

Ken

I agree 100%. I was thinking that using the airsoft as a bridge to the real thing could spell trouble with blurred lines. Gotta make the distinction, and then hope the safety trickles back down to the airsoft. Otherwise, he will just think the real thing is another toy as well, which is beyond "not good".