Our new guns.

**Dr. Sleepless** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 12:14pm

Originally Posted by Draven

...you are joking, right? I would say that the best way to teach kids firearm safety would be to keep them the **** away from firearms. But thats just me... I am not going all hippy on you, that would be hypocritical of me since I like guns myself. But how is teaching a child to use a murder weapon going to do any good? Ridiculous.

Nice TOYS BTW Anna, these are not guns.

*****. I just bought my baby sister (7 years old) TWO airsoft guns (Glock 21's) and she can smack a target from 20 feet away.

Kids are incredibly impressionable and listen to reason real well if raised correctly. I gave my brother a sword when he was 10 years old, he hasn't accidentally killed anybody yet, and it's because I taught him safety. My baby sister plays with my stupid cheap ass airsoft gun all the time, and she knows it's bad to point it at people. It's not hard to teach kids safety at a reasonably young age, you know. Stop trying to protect them, people should be arming them with the ability to help themselves.

On topic:

Sweet guns. There's a PSG-1 replica at the local sports store that I'm considering getting. I live on the second floor and I have a window seat, I was thinking about just popping out the screen on my window and leaving that thing sticking out. I'm sure people would complain.

**Neildo** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 12:17pm

Originally Posted by Sirc

blahblahblah PSG-1 replica blahblah

omgiwantit.

I was going to get an Airsoft HK mk.23 from an army surplus store, but it was gone when i had the cash.
I was quite disappointed. Hopefully I will see it again some day.

**Anna Kovacs** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 12:30pm

Originally Posted by Phrost

So how safe are these for kids? I want my daughter to start learning about firearm safety and how to pop targets and an M-16/M-4 clone would be great for this.

As long as the kid in question doesnt shoot someone in the eye then they should be just peachy. No kick whatsoever. Not much in the way of noise. Great for indoor target practice. (My granddad started me out with a BB gun shooting targets indoors so boo to all the naysayers :P )

Sight picture is the same as a real firearm, size is the same as a real firearm.

**vigilus** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 12:35pm

But how is teaching a child to use a murder weapon going to do any good? Ridiculous.

I wonder what kills more kids and teenagers. Guns or cars.

Nothing wrong with teaching a child respect for something dangerous, be it fire, cars, guns or martial arts.
I'd rather have my child know where the saftey on a gun is and how to be SAFE with one then not knowing anything about a gun and accidentally shooting themselves or someone else.

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 12:47pm

The airsoft guns are great. I had a blast playing at the field the other day and felt like I was in a real war toting a real machine gun. Yeah, it's LARPing, but soldiers do training that's pretty similar as I hear it (except with chalk bullets (ouch) or lazer tag). In any case, it's fun.

**Anna Kovacs** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 12:49pm

Originally Posted by rw4th

Simply put, Airsoft guns are toys; they feel like toys, and they handle like toys. They can have a place in Force-on-Force training, but they are NOT GOOD for teaching safety and manipulation.

I think you'd be surprised if you handled some of the high end stuff.

I"ve handled real ar15's that felt more toyish and plasticy then the one that we have. My only complaint is that the forward hand guard is a little fat for my taste, but in my experiance a lot of AR15 manufacturers have forward handgrips that are fat for my taste so I can't fault that to much. If It bothered me to any real degree I could (and have) put my bushmaster grips on it, though I switched them back.

The weight and handling is damn near identical, If I casually handed the M4gery to someone knowledgeable about firearms they probably wouldnt note anything "off" until they started playing with the charging handle (pullable, but non functional) or the bolt catch (a little loose). The safety is identical. They're both metal where they're supposed to be and plastic where they're not.

It's a very impressive replica and differs only minorly from the real deal.

As a kid I would have LOVED to have a bb gun like this one rather then the pump/lever action stuff I did have.

Some of the less expensive stuff feels more plasticy but still has the same controls and sight picture, as a gun nut casually interested in airsoft I was more often then not pleasantly surprised by the replicas I handled.

While there are some differances to make note of I think they'd be at least as good a starter gun as the Daisy BB guns most people get their kids.

**Draven** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 12:51pm

One word; Columbine. Thats the price you pay for living in a gun society.

Bah, whatever. I´m not gonna go off looking like Michael Moore here making lectures, cant be bothered with this arguement really. Just train your kids up to be killers, fine by me. Then they will have a nice way of getting back at the bullies in their school and the teachers they dont like!

**rw4th** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 12:56pm

Originally Posted by Kidspatula

Yeah, it's LARPing, but soldiers do training that's pretty similar as I hear it (except with chalk bullets (ouch) or lazer tag). In any case, it's fun.

If you’re having fun it's all good, but don’t let yourself fall into the trap of thinking that what’s you’re doing is any way “training”. The relation between airsofting and actual firearms and force-on-force training is the same as with LARPing and actual martial arts (something that is often discussed on this site).

**Tom Kagan** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 1:09pm

Originally Posted by Draven

One word; Columbine. Thats the price you pay for living in a gun society.

First off, Bullshit. If it really were a gun society, those kids who did this would have been shot dead almost immediately by an armed teacher/custodian/principal/student. You, sitting in Iceland, would have never heard of it.

Second off, take your both your incredibly offbase political arguments elsewhere. However, if you have an argument which is on target, by all means post it. However, I would consider this doubtful given your Columbine reference is your second offbase argument on the subject of kids and guns.

**rw4th** · Posted On: 10/23/2006 1:26pm

Originally Posted by Draven

blah blah blah ... I'm a socialist ... blah blah blah

Seriously dude, what you're saying is so full of **** that it I don’t know where to start. Are you also for keeping kids out of combat sports because it just makes them more aggressive and turns them into bullies?

If anything firearms safety and marksmanship training at a young age builds respect and sportsmanship and is the anti-Columbine.