Piggyback to My Fireworks Question

I've never connected the two before this question, but the equating part for me would be in the proper use, supervision, etc. Neither are toys and both have a destructive power that needs to be respected and understood before using. I grew up in an area where there wasn't access to "real" fireworks so I wasn't into them and couldn't have gotten them if I wanted to. And no one I know had guns.

My kids were taught both but I don't equate them in the same category. I am actually more concerned that my kids understand firework safety because some people just don't take it seriously.

I mean you will almost never see someone pull out a gun, hand it to a group of kids and say, hey, why don't y'all go down and shoot at that tree out there. I mean that would clearly be nuts!

Still there are a lot of parents that go out and buy fireworks, hand them over to their kids and say here ya go. The only way to protect my kids was to get through to them safe handling and never play with them when there isn't a parent around.

It is not that I worried about my kids handling them it is just children don't form the connections we do. One bottle rocket going nuts, no big deal. Now two from the same pack...hum. Three they go in the trash! Kids will keep playing because they are focused on the play.

I am 35. I hate fireworks and my children are not allowed to do them. It's illegal just about everywhere in my area. Even as a child I hated them. I have seen WAY too many accidents by "responsible" folks to ever think that they are a good idea.
We don't do guns. Not because I am for or against...I just don't hunt and am not in the military, so I don't need them.
L.

I am 28. Our daughter is only 6. We do have a gun, and hubby took both our daughter & me outside to show us how it worked. We explained gun safety to our daughter so that she would understand how dangerous it was. We offered for her to shoot it (with Dad's help), but she didn't want to.

We also do fireworks at home, when we can. Daughter has only held sparklers so far :)

Hubby is military & likes fire, so..... lol But we do have a bucket of water on hand, as well as water hose & spraying the ground to get it wet first.

Shooting real guns with live ammo at a range, wearing hearing and eye protection and knowing fire arms safety is a lot safer than handing a 2000 degree burning explosive to a 3 yr old.
Our son learned to shoot at 6.
He was 12 with about 10 sober adults present before he ever held a sparkler.
I was a teen when I had a firecracker go off in my hand and I lost all feeling in that hand for 24 hours.
I was very lucky the nerve damage was not permanent.
Just Google 'fireworks accident' or "fireworks injury' and take a look at images (be warned - some of the pictures are very disturbing).
It's all in the name of 'fun' - but these people have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives - and it's SO PREVENTABLE.

My sons are 6, 4, and 1. We have firearms in the home. My husband is active duty military and goes to the range weekly. Our children do not know we have guns. The will someday. We do not buy fireworks. They are pretty to look at but I have no desire to light my own.

My son is five. No, I do not equate the use of one to another.

At five, my son is neither allowed to operate a weapon (other than a foam disc gun or his bow and arrow "crossbow" he made out of craft sticks and rubber bands)nor is he also not allowed to touch any of the firework/sparkler incendiary device stuff. And we bought a whopping total of five small things for 4th of July this year. My husband will light them.

We do have a few guns in our house. They are twice-locked and ammo stored, also locked and stored on a separate floor. When Kiddo is mature enough, my husband will take him to the firing range and teach him how to operate a gun correctly. Kiddo's too interested in guns right now, so he does not know we have them in the house-- it's not worth the incessant "I want to see" which will follow. We live in town, too, and we've got an alarm system and 911 to use. I'd rather not introduce a gun into a bad situation.

Frankly, I will be equally careful in teaching him how to use fireworks when the time is right. One of my stepfathers had a fireworks-type accident and ended up blind in one eye, color-blind in the other. I'm not willing to take that chance with my son's vision.

For me, I didn't use guns until my stint in the Navy. And the craziest I ever got with fireworks were sparklers.

uuuummmm....No, fireworks and firearms are TOTALLY different beasts.

This is like comparing apples and oranges. Seriously.

Fireworks are for pleasure. They create noise and "pretty" lights & colors.
Firearms are for self-defense or hunting. They are NOT toys, they are tools.

We have guns. We ALL know how to fire, load and handle guns.

We have fireworks. My boys help set them off. There are rules and they MUST follow them. If they don't follow them - they don't get to help set them off.

and my kids know how to load and operate bows and arrows as well. we can make them from sticks and twine.

I can see how you would think these two things might be related. It will be interesting to see if your theory holds up. I'm also intrigued.

I'm almost 40, but have two little girls. I grew up with 3 brothers and have used guns. (Properly taught, no.) I also grew up with fireworks of all kinds (mostly illegal firecrackers that were bought in bulk and used through-out the year without supervision). I should also say that my dad was the SAHP and we were free range kids. We had to stay on the 12 acres, but could do just about anything we wanted. Lots of risk taking.

I personally do not enjoy fireworks (except to watch at a public display). I don't like fire much. Holding sparklers still scare me. I don't have a gun, but wouldn't be afraid to use one.

I should also say that I am a very protective parent. I also have 2 kids under 5. I like rules, and regulations. I don't see us letting the girls do A LOT of what I was allowed to do when I was a kid. It was simply too dangerous, and stupid. My brothers have had LOTS of serious accidents.

i am 34, my son is 5. he does some fireworks with supervision (it will depend more on how comfortable he is and how he does listening to precise directions - i think he'll do much better than last year, but he is a pretty timid kid) i think sparklers, tanks/cars/etc, and smoke bombs are ok. don't think he's ready for fire crackers yet.

as far as guns go, i would rather he be raised to be safe and comfortable with them. not because i like them, but to me, knowledge is power. i would prefer no one have them ever for any reason. but they exist so i would rather he be educated. my family has always been very pro-gun. however, my husband is not thrilled with him being around them. we have none in the house, and live in the city. so at 5 he has not had any interaction other than seeing his uncles and grandpa handle them (not shoot, just have them on their person) out on the farm. and we have had the obligatory "guns are dangerous" and "we don't ever touch a gun ever ever ever - you come tell mom if you see one" conversations.

i don't believe prohibition has ever (EVER) worked, so when the time comes if he wants to learn about them then we will go through the proper channels and get him into a gun safety course.

I see nothing wrong with fireworks, real guns (in safe places), or toy weapons. Kids will make a gun out of anything... they need to be taught from early on that even toy guns need to be used appropriately.

Nope..... my kids played with fireworks, and pretty much were all taught gun safety... they didn't shoot much, but we've had bb guns and such. My son went through the courses in boy scouts, also.

My son has had paintball guns, airsoft guns, bb guns, a small shotgun... all of that, and it hasn't made him violent.

I too am an older M.... I just turned 55. I have 4 kids, ranging from 20 to 30. I grew up around guns and fireworks, as did my hubby.

we have firearms in the house as well but my kids do not know that they are. Not until they are old enough to understand how to use them on their own (blindfolded). We do shoot bows and arrows and BB guns in my grandpa's backyard. And we have let them do fireworks since their first or second 4th of July. We are VERY safe and teach our kids what is acceptable and what is not. With both. I think that this has helped demystify fireworks and guns and my children know how to behave properly around them. They know if they are not behaving properly they will be removed from the activity. In my experience children that join us for activities with out experience tend to be unaware of safe behavior and have had some close calls (with fireworks. Guns are 2 on one with their adult and our adult instructor with the one child. Guns will never be brought out with multiple unlearned people, adults included). but i do not equate the use of one to the other. The safe practices are very different.

I am 46 and grew up in the suburbs. We had neither fireworks (illegal in our state) nor guns. We continue to have neither. My son will not play with either guns or fireworks. I see no reason in the world to expose him to those risks. I see no reason in the world he needs to start to enjoy killing living creatures for sport. We can think of enough other hobbies that he doesn't need to get into target shooting. I would like him to keep his fingers and eyes intact. July 4th is not important enough to risk those.

I see no relationship at all between fireworks and guns. We also don't do fast food or fly small planes - don't see a relationship there either.

My boys have been taught gun safety, and our oldest (14) goes to the gun range with my dad and sometimes with me.

We live on a farm, and can shoot off fireworks at home, but fireworks seem more unpredictable to me, and therefore seem more dangerous. We let the boys use sparklers and our 14 year old can light some of the "lighter" fireworks. My husband is in charge of the heavy-duty fireworks, although the last year and this year we haven't bought many to shoot off on our own. I prefer watching the professionals

I am almost 40. I grew up around fireworks, but not guns. Maybe we were just too suburban?

When I was a kid, I remember my brother melting plastic forks with firecrackers, and I thought it was really cool to throw paper caps(from a cap gun) into a bonfire. In high school, my cousins would shoot off fireworks in the woods.
I buy the poppers and streamers that don't involve any real fire. I'm sure my 10-year-old son could handle sparklers or firecrackers, but I don't go to fireworks stores. Bottle rockets seem too dangerous(dry brush with poor access for firetrucks) and unpredictable(neighbors shoot them onto our roof). As a family, we have done model rockets. My son is allowed to use power tools, and that fits in better with our family "personality".

My son learned to shoot bb guns in cub scouts. He loves the science involved, but actually shooting makes him nervous. He did participate, but likes archery better. I've never been around guns, but my grandfather talked about hunting so it seems normal to me. My son and I enjoy watching discovery channel shows about guns and explosives. My husband is completely opposed to guns of any kind.

I don't equate the 2...

But do teach/allow both. Under 2 conditions: weapons on the range, fireworks at the lake.

Similarly, I have a friend in film. Those pyrotechnics are also taught, to both his son and mine. Oy. Kiddo has a better understanding than I do. St this point he can see just a few minutes of special effects and name not only the director, but also their lead pyro guy 9x out of 10.

Now...C4, Semtex, det cord, etc... I DO equate... But will not be teaching for some time. Pyrotechnics and explosives were both taught in my AP Physics class in highschool. I see that as a reasonable age. Well see if I still agree in 6 years!!!

We don't do guns. We don't do fireworks. I don't equate them. I don't care if other families do them. Each family chooses what is important for their children and what they are comfortable with. If you are comfortable with them and feel they are important, that is your choice. I am neither. I am 43 with two kids. My father had a gun when I was growing up because he was a doctor who responded to emergencies and did house calls in the middle of the night in sketchy neighborhoods. I never saw it. We lived on a farm, but we did not hunt. Neither did my husband's family. My father has treated many people who were comfortable with both these things. My brother is a trauma surgeon who also fixes (or attempts to) a lot of people who are comfortable with these things. I have heard many horrible, sad stories. I don't equate fireworks and guns. I just don't see the need for either to be around my kids. We're happy enough to watch the municipal fireworks without having them in our hands.