Looking for advice/shared experience if you had a class/mini class and you received a request from an adult asking if their underage daughter/son can attend? like a teenager. or younger.
Are you asking as Instructor / head of the class or just a regular attendee?
Presence of underage should be discussed with the person who takes responsibility for the people attending the class.
I’ve been several times at Pistol classes where underage kids were watching… but every single attendee was a 100% trusted person.
I, as the Instructor would never mix adult shooters with underage ones.
Thanks for the reply, I am asking as an instructor. I put on a basic class, using mini courses that the USCCA has along with other information. Do you or have you had a class for minors?
What kind of class of this? Where will it be held and what are the rules for that age (or younger is kind of vague) from the host site? Do you know anything of the training history of the adult asking the question?
If the minor’s age that is being asked about is allowed by the host site/range, I’d go for it. But, I would be sure to instruct/guide the minor particularly closely, like physically arms reach, 1 on 1, while nobody else is handling or by a firearm, without (might take some firm explanation) any ‘help’ from the adult/parent.
I am a currently inactive (because I’m busy/lazy) Appleseed instructor. I have instructed and been around the instruction of many youths, as young as 6, as well as my own.
In many ways they are easier than adult males, as a general rule, because much like most women, they don’t think they already know everything, so they listen better and they are less likely to have ingrained bad habits to break.
Just…make extra sure you are literally able to physically prevent them from flagging anybody with the firearm, even if they try to
I would also always want to start with and witness their handling of a .22lr RIFLE before a pistol, if that’s a possibility, because it’s much easier to grab a rifle/barrel and control the muzzle
I would go so far as to bring your own .22lr Rifle for the youth to use before anything else for the above reasons plus a youth is possibly the last person you want to try to get instruction through to while dealing with an optic/sights that aren’t zero’d, malfunctions, cheap crappy ammo, etc…a good reliable 10/22 or similar with CCI Mini Mags or whatever else runs 100%, or an M&P 15-22, or whatever, with a zero’d red dot…very easy start/proving firearm
I think I wouldn’t be a good teacher / instructor for underage. I’m patient enough to discuss, but I’m not ready to deal with firearm in young hands.
This requires a trust and the only kids I’ve been ever trusting were my own. Even somebody will convince me to give firearm lesson to underage, as @Nathan57 mentioned - it would be 1 on 1, just private lesson, not a class. Of course, some kids can be more experienced than adults… but lack of familiarity can be handled. Lack of common sense, good judgment and data interpretation in young age don’t work well with firearms lessons.
I have done classes for the youth, but the class is done with training guns. It is a safety class only with no range time. The idea I had was to familiarize them with the safety aspects of guns and handling them. How to recognize if they are loaded and how to load and unload them. (Dummy Rounds)
First time I brought my then-teenaged daughter to the indoor range, I was asked to sign a waiver.
Could be something you can implement if you haven’t yet. CYA.
Thank you all for the input, it definitely gives me some very good points to consider. The range I am using has a waiver for those to sign and includes a waiver for minors. I will be utilizing that for sure and have to anyway. I have no issues with training a minor, they are easier to work with then adults. I have worked with a few one on one with basic fundamentals/safety. Thank you!!!