Thank you for looking, the question relates to young people and guns.

I held a shotgun licence at the age of 10 years. Perfectly legal, cost just ten shillings a year (50p) and was purchased from the local Post Office without any checks being carried out whatsoever.

My father taught me how to use the gun, how to use it responsibly, safely, maintain it and to consider what might be on the other side of the hedge that I couldn't see and further what might be a mile away as later I was issued with a Firearm Certificate; which is very different to a shotgun licence. The .22 pistol and rifle that I once owned were dangerous at one mile, meaning the bullet could travel up to one mile and a warning on the box of bullets confirmed same!

I used the gun on private farm land for the purpose of pest control that actually turned into a lucrative profession from the age of 18 years, allowing me to employ 23 people covering 41 RAF and USAF establishments and over 100 hospitals in the UK. Since my retirement some of those in my former employ have started their own Pest Control Companies, nine in fact.

So was it a bad thing, should our kids be stopped from having/using guns at an early age? Probably more important is the trade in other weapons, especially online that are not licenced and so easily available. Knives, daggers, swords etc...

I had a 12bore when aged 18 which i used for Rabbits,Foxes and Pigeons on farm land nearby where i lived.-but my father insisted that i kept the gun locked away --at the farm.

Idont think there are as many 18--25-yearolds holding licences these days.

Well, let's see, I was under 10 I think when dad took us with our friends and their two boys out on their property and we fired rifles across the ravine into the dirt.  I never had an permit...they weren't issued then like they are now. Dad took care of his rifle and maintinaed it himself and stored it away ...later on he traded his in for an train set for my younger brother. My brother gave my son an BBGun...when he was small...first time he lost his temper at someone and thought about using it..It was taken away and disposed of..... out of our house.  But John Fizgerals'd son Shaun had an episode with his cousin "James" where while we went to the Warm Springs Indian resort one day, they came over and shot up my son's room with BB's being "cowboys VS Indians". I think Mark was in this also. Cause his mother gave us his Niintendo.. they had hit ours and destroyed it... we had to pay for an rental Saxaphone for my son's music lessons at school, dig BB's out of my son's room in the walls and repaint. Shaun nor James.... were reprimanded..... as their parents never made resitution on anything, like Mark's mother did. But that kind of stopped the gun game playing around here.

When I was an kid it was not unusal for kids to not be in school during hunting season, people were out deer hunting and it usaually included the whole family in late October every year. For many it was thier "winter time" meat.

Last time I used an BBGun...was before the Hispanic friends left high school they had bottles lined up along an fence top, over at their house..kept asking me to try it...I shot down every bottle in the row perfectly.. everyone of them...left them standing with their mouths open to understand I was an "crack" shot at an target back then. But my dad taught us well as kids on how to defend outselves and not make it play time...but serious business. Don' t flaunt being armed in peoples faces..... as something "arrogant" to do to others.

We were under adult supervision back then...and much more responisble then the average kid of today. We were taught to reverand life...not destroy it...as were all things, back then things in general were hard to come by...kids now left alone... ranscack houses just "partying".  If we'd done something like that back then, we'd been made to make restituion for the damages. Back then things in this area included wild animals, one tenth of the people now.... and hunting for food also. Guns and rifles were something serious and not be "Played" with...they were for defense in time of need only...or in the case of hunting...used wisely. Back then no one really wanted to kill an member of their immediate family...like they do these days. Accidents were just that an seldom...rare in fact...reguardless of one's age. But we didn't have to worry about someone on drugs either..or someone gonewacko on some kind of an substance either...or losing their minds. We didn't have time for that...everyone worked just to survive daily. We were generally glad to have time for friends, visit with them...time to drink an coke.... and the money to pay for it.  You can bet we'd have to walk to see the even at that most likely.. Miles. My hubby rode an bycycle miles on end to see me during the week when we were in school. It was either that or talk to on an phone line that everyone shared...and heard everything... if we weren't interputed to get off so someone else could use it. times have changed, but what I was taught back then is still retained...guns are weapons. Anything can be an weapon... if used for one. 

I was given a Daisy air rifle when I was 11 years old and I was responsible enough to avoid firing a slug near people because an eye injury can be serious . I fired a real rifle when my father supervised me but I didn't own the rifle.

I don't think children under 17 should own rifles and pistols.Many children have been shot accidentally by other children.Many children have been killed accidentally while handling their own gun or their parent's gun.

It's a difficult question.Cars kill adults but we still drive them.

Ah the Daisy air rifle Ken, remember it well along with other examples such as an air pistol that would probably be a collectors piece today. It lacked an amount of power, but looked the business.

I later owned a German Weighrauch Air Rifle that was just under the 13 feet per second limit, thus it was very close to being classed as a firearm and very powerful. To be honest I think it was dangerous to be in the hands of anybody but a professional.