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I didn't learn about guns until I was an adult, and while I believe my parents did a great job of raising me, I wish they had been proactive when it came to teaching me about guns.

Now that I'm a parent with two fantastic sons, I am taking the proactive approach. My wife and I decided to give our older son his first .22 for Christmas in 2005 (he was 7 at the time). He and I have had a lot of fun shooting that little Henry Mini-Bolt in the last year or so. Before our first trip to the range, I taught him about safety and how to properly care for the gun.

I've found that teaching kids about safety is far from a one-time event. I find myself quizzing and reminding them virtually everytime we handle a gun whether it is just to take it out of the safe to clean it or take it to the range to shoot. My son has impressed me at gun shows with comments about unsafe practices that we sometimes see there (primarily people not treating every gun as if it is loaded).

For Christmas this year, we gave my older son a Russian TOZ .22 that we picked up from Military Gun Supply here in Fort Worth (great shop, by the way). We decided that he was ready for a rifle with a magazine, but we wanted to stick with a bolt action. Our son is really developing into a decent marksman with the rifle on the falling plates at 25 yds and the steel plate at 50 m. As a matter of fact, we are headed the the range for a bit this afternoon.

Our older son is now 8 and is very comfortable with guns. He is very aware of safety and conducts himself in a very professional manner.

Our younger son is 6 and we decided to give him his first .22 this Christmas. We chose a Davey Crickett (not with the pink stock, though) for him so that his first would be different from the older son's first. Everyone who has kids understands that dilemma! He was already familiar with safety and had shot some with his brother's rifle before, so safety education is just a continuing effort with him (as it really is with all of us). He just started wearing glasses a couple of months ago, and I think his vision is part of the reason he is progressing a bit slower than his brother did, but he is still making great progress. His little face just lights up when he hits those steel targets!

Some of you may recall that I posted a week or so ago about receiving a Taurus PT1911 for Christmas myself, so with the two rifles for the boys, we had a great time opening presents Christmas morning!

One other note ---

As a CHL holder who carries everywhere I legally can, I also believe that it is very important to educate my sons on why I choose to carry. We have had some great discussions as a family about the importance of accepting responsibility, the Constitution, and other subjects. Educating our children is one of our primary responsibilities as parents and educating them about guns is one aspect of it that we should take seriously.