Would you buy your fourteen year old boy a bb gun? Why or why not?

I owned a 22 rifle when I was 13 or 14. I’m still here and no one has been harmed. It all depends on the child and their responsibility.

My brother and I were given BB guns the same year (he was 13, and I was 12). Their use was strictly supervised for a full year, and one of our grandfathers gave us target shooting lessons. The training kept us from doing anything stupid while we were new to the guns, and it also gave us accountability from then on. Having proved that we knew what we were doing, nobody was going to buy any stories about “accidents” while shooting. We were taught to have respect for the weapon. We were not allowed to just run around with a gun. In my experience, that tends to produce much better results.

I’m not a parent, but I can say that BB guns are not a big deal. It all depends on making sure that the child is responsible enough, and if the parent supervises correctly, and that there is a zero-tolerance policy towards doing stupid stuff. I’ve never owned any guns, but I’ve fired BB guns since before age 10, I’ve had pocketknives before age 10, and I fired a shotgun for the first time at age 13. It’s really not a very big deal.

I have an uncle that use to run with a wild crowd when he was that age. They had BB gun fights with each other. Only one of them got hit in the eye, but he was okay eventually. If you knew him you wouldn’t be surprised.

Of course. Around here it’s not even a question for most.

Yes. I wouldn’t have a problem buying a bb gun for a 14 year old boy or girl. It is an excellent way to learn gun safety and to learn to shoot. My children were taught to shoot and gun safety at a much earlier age. We loved to skeet shoot and target practice with compound bows and rifles. Shooting is a fantastic sport and takes a great deal of discipline and skill.

No (at any age), because I don’t allow guns of any kind in my house.

If I had a son, I would get him one, but it would be stored in my gun safe. He would not be allowed to use it unsupervised until he proved he was mature enough for that responsibility. Quality BB/pellet guns can and have killed people, so he would not have unfettered access.

I am not a fan of guns, period, so most likely no. I had a daughter so this never came up.
I did have a friend whose sons shot a Canadian Goose with a BB gun and she made them pluck and cook that goose and eat it in every possible way from roasted to soup while they cried and complained how gross it was.
Lesson learned, I thought her approach was just perfect.

Kill something, then you eat it, ALL of it, lizards, squirrels and sparrows included. lol

No. Hell, I was that mom who didn’t even let my kids use squirt guns when they were little. (I made them use spray bottles. I may have gone a tad overboard.) Kids and guns are just not a combo I approve of.

@augustlan I understand that. My mom didn’t want me anywhere near guns when I was young. But I needed the peace and solace of the woods when I was young. It was a healing thing. Plus I bagged some really good meals. It was my therapy.

MY 13 year old son bought a BB gun (unbeknownst to us) from his youngest step-brother, who had obtained it in a devious fashion (unbeknowst to his mother and his father…my then husband.)

The first we learned about it was when he stood on the stairs and fired one pellet into his sister’s cheek, while she was sitting at the piano, just below her eye.

We three and the gun rushed to the pediatrician, who removed the BB from my daughter’s eye. Then he threatened to notify the police about my son’s behavior. That was the last time my son ever went near any kind of firearm.

My oldest step-son shot an arrow into his youngest brother’s (the original owner of the BB gun) arm. There was serious repercussions over that incident also.

We were lucky that no one was seriously hurt. The boys never experimented with any kind of weaons ever again.

No I never purchased a BB gun or any gun for that matter for a child that clearly is not mature enough to handle problems with out violence.
Since he wanted to “shoot something”, I gave him a camera toshoot pictures instead.
He appreciates all life and captures it in his pictures.

No. Why does a kid need one? So he can pretend he has a real gun? That makes the world a better place doesn’t it…

It reminds me of things like lawn darts and fire starter kits for kids. Brilliant :P

I had bb guns, pellet guns, water guns, bows and arrows and every kind of pocket knife and machete when I was a kid. So did all my friends. I don’t know of anyone who ever shot or stabbed anyone else. I do say however, with much pride, that we killed more tin cans, scarecrows, road signs than anyone else. I also say with no pride we also killed a few crows and pigeons.

@Adirondackwannabe One of the first things that attracted me to my now-husband was the fact that he’d grown up hunting with his grandfather (in West Virginia, hunting is pretty standard) but one day realized he didn’t need to kill things to enjoy the great outdoors. He would hunt again if we needed food, but never for any other purpose. He still camped, enjoyed the woods and worked outside his whole life. He’s kind of a paradox…he’s a gun collector, but hasn’t even fired any of the guns he owns.

All of my family love firearms and the outdoors, but only my brother and his son still shoot at anything alive. It’s so nice to get out in nature and forget civilization for a while. I think I get him pretty well.

Our conservation dept encourages hunting and hunters education for youngsters. Humand and deer overpopulation don’t mesh well. We even introduced elk back into Missouri!

My cousin got his eye shot out with a BB gun many, many years ago. I remember seeing him with the patch over his eye. He was 12 or 13. He lost that eye, so, no. I wouldn’t. Maybe I’d feel differently if that memory wasn’t so clearly in my mind.

@Dutchess_III I get that. My friends had a bottle rocket fight and threw them at each other and my friend Shane lost his eye, I have had a healthy respect for fireworks ever since.

^^^ Oh man, I was in Asia during Chinese New Year..I almost blew myself up and I was 50. lol
I gave my black market fireworks ( in America ) to a French college student on the Taipei Metro. He was thrilled, but damn, if I was 30 years younger I would have smuggled some home. ;-)

Wait….Midnight Express ring a bell @Coloma?

@Dutchess_III Indeed it does! lol
Yep, I am a risk taker, black market fireworks and opium poppy seeds would have tempted me sorely way back when. haha
I could have been ” Coloma Poppyseed” spreading magical flowers all over my county. ;-)

Hm. Wizard of Oz ring a bell? Day Tripper? Magic Carpet Ride? L ucy in the S ky* with D iamonds :)