My sister-in-law asked me to speak to my nephews and nieces about firearm safety. I was very honored that she wanted me to do this, and slightly surprised since the niece is 11 and the nephews are 13 and 15. Both boys are interested in firearms, with the younger being very interested.

The first thing we covered was what to do if you find a gun or if you are at a friend’s house and you are shown a gun without the parent’s knowledge. If you find a gun, you leave it where it is and get an adult. If you are at a friend’s house and are shown a gun without the parents knowledge, they are to leave and call either Mom, Dad or one of us to come get them.

Next we covered general firearm handling safety. Always treat a gun as if it is loaded, when a gun is handed to you verify the safety is engaged and then verify it is unloaded and never point a gun at another person, always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.

I brought a rifle, pistol and some ammo to allow the boys to use after I was done talking to them so they could try out what I had told and showed them. I almost forgot one of the most important rules, don’t put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire the weapon. I was trying to remember this last one and I just couldn’t. Then when I was letting the boys actually practice on the guns I saw a finger on the trigger. That reminded me of what I forgot, so we stopped what we were doing to cover that.

It took about 10-15 minutes to cover all this and then they asked question about guns for the next 10 minutes or so. I also showed them some of the different types of ammo that we have and what it did. Next, when it warms up a little I will take them to the range and let them shoot for a while. I am looking forward to that and will let you all know how that goes.

Is there anything I missed that I should cover when I take them to the range?