I've always believed that the worst thing you could do with a child was create an air of mystery around a gun. When my daughter was 4 or 5, I started her out helping me clean guns in the middle of the floor. She would go to the dove fields and stand between my legs and shoot my shotgun (with me holding it, of course). Whenever she shot with me, she felt some of the recoil and I let her go until she was tired. I do not believe in starting a child out with a .22. By 12, she was helping me reload shot shells and was already a fair hand at skeet. I never had to worry about her. My 2 grand monsters (11 and 12) are well on their way.

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner