Looking for a basic shooting safety DVD

[jlwilliams]

  I was talking to one of the other dads at Cubscouts and mentioned getting my son a BB gun and having his first gun saftey talk/lesson. He said "I just don't know about guns".  He never had guns around growing up, he and his wife aren't gun people and he doesn't want his kids 'messing around' with guns.  I didn't get preachy or  push my pro-gun agenda on him.  I did say that this is his oportunity to teach his kids about guns, because if they don't learn from him they will learn from the TV.  That about floored him.  His eyes lit up.  He said I was right and he didn't seem too keen on his kids learning about guns from the idiot box.  I left it there and we went in for the meeting.
 
  I think this is an oportunity to get a non gun guy to make an educated decision about guns.  Now I just need to steer him toward some education.
 
  I'd like to find a basics of gun handling sort of DVD that I could hand him and say "Here, check this out".   Hoping he watches it and maybe then takes me up on an offer to go shooting.  I don't think he's about to run out and buy a shotgun, but he may decide that this is something he needs to learn if only to teach his kids.  He's a recent move-in to this area that's more rural than the burbs he's from.  There are lots of shooters and hunters here.  It's just a matter of time (maybe just a few years) until some kid his son knows offers to take him shooting.  Worse case, maybe one of them shows him something taken form their dad's closet.  My hope is that he teaches his kids and they know how to handle it.  If they never have handled a gun and dad never taught them about guns, I fear what curiosity may lead them to.  If they know about guns and know better than to use them without a grownup, maybe they can make a good choise and no one gets hurt.
 
  He and I are both going to camp with our boys this summer, and they offer BB gun shooting there.   That's huge.  His oldest son's first shooting experience will be at scout camp with dad right by his side.  If I can offer Kevin a disk to watch and maybe an afternoon of 22 plinking, maybe his acceptance level will help him make the most of that experience.  Knowing what to tell his sons will be better then telling them nothing.
 
  I think (from what I know of his personality) that if he has a disk to watch once or twice he will ease into the idea that maybe he should go take the hunter's safety course.  I don't think that learning from a DVD is all a person needs, but I do think it will open his mind to learning better.
 
  So, where can I find such a disk?  Any reccomendations?

[Brett]

You could start by looking here...  http://www.nra.org/programs.aspx  Check out the Firearms Training and Youth programs.   Here is some of the basic training videos they offer...  http://materials.nrahq.org/go/products.aspx?cat=G-Videos

[Sourdough]

We started the kids at the age of ten.  4-H felt that younger kids did not have the concentration to handle guns properly.  My wife actually started our son shooting at the age of five, but his Mother was very involved and it was one on one training.  She stressed safety more than anything.  One of the things I tell Anti Gun Mothers, or Mothers that are skeptic about letting their kids be near guns is, "Would you rather have your kids learn about guns in a safe controlled environment, or in some neighbors house with another kid that knows nothing but where Dad keeps his guns"?  At this point they reach for the sign-up forms. 

Check to see if there is a 4-H shooting program in your area.  Or see if there is an approved NRA shooting course in your area.  While at it if you can find an NRA Organization maybe you can have Eddy Eagle come to your Cub Scout meeting and give the NRA safety talk to the kids.  Check with your local Fish and Game office, they usually have a Hunter Safety Course geared to young people.  Most are either the NRA Course or something close.  Any of those organizations should have material that either they check out or will let you bring the kids and watch the material.  Here in Fairbanks I taught the NRA Gun Safety Course under the 4-H program.  Unfortunately our club house burned down, and all our training supplies were lost.  The info we had was all on VCR tapes we got from the NRA.  I'm sure they will be getting all new material from the NRA, and that the new material will be on CDs.  I just have not been involved since the fire. 

The training we gave was the NRA Gun Safety Course, for the first four weeks.  Then we taught the Alaska Hunter Safety Course for the second four weeks.  During both segments the kids would have class room training for the first hour, then they went to the range downstairs and shot for the second hour.  The Club furnished the guns, or the kids could bring their own.  I did the class room training, I never worked on the range at this program.  I have taken kids from the 4-H program that showed interest out to the local Skeet Range.  You want to see a kids face light up, watch them when they bust their first clay bird.   

[jlwilliams]

  Thanks for the replies.