My five-year-old daughter had been eyeballing the long, rectangular package under the Christmas tree all morning.

So when she was finally able to start shredding the wrapping paper that covered it and saw the pink Daisy BB gun on the box cover, she was excitedly shocked.

Weird enough, I saw the same expression on the faces of several friends and co-workers when I told them that my daughter would be getting a gun for Christmas. Their comments were all very similar: "Why would you give your kid a gun?"

The word "gun" has become a lightning rod in today’s popular culture. School shootings, office killing sprees, and hunting accidents have driven most non-hunting families to question whether guns are needed at all on a recreational basis.

Safety is a primary concern for anyone who owns a gun and is the main reason why I wanted my daughter to start learning how to responsibly own and handle a firearm at a young age.

I can also currently control her access to firearms in my own home, and who knows what she may come across while visiting at a friend’s house or if she finds one laying in a public place.

Every family should start teaching the values of gun safety to children at a young age. This doesn’t mean you have to buy them a gun; hand it to them and let them run around unsupervised.

Here are some pointers on introducing a gun to a child:

The child needs to be mature enough to take gun handling seriously. This doesn’t happen at the same age for each child, so ignore advice from people that suggest that little Jimmy should be X years old before he gets his Red Ryder for Christmas. The child should show a genuine interest in using a gun and doing it responsibly.

Stress from the very start that using a gun is a privilege, not a right. This means that if your child expects to use his/her new gun, he/she needs to be meeting other responsibilities in the home — from completing homework to helping out with chores. Why is this important? It helps you gauge whether little Jimmy takes the situation seriously and gives you more control over when and for how long he gets to use the firearm.

You need to research firearms before purchasing one for your child. For most children, starting with a BB gun at a young age is ideal since it allows the parent to teach proper gun handling while the child gets a fairly safe, easy-to-use firearm that isn’t going to kick hard when fired or cause excessive damage. However, BB guns can be lethal and should be treated just as gingerly as any high-powered rifle.

Model good gun handling. Be sure to lock your child’s BB gun in with your high-powered models. This will help illustrate that you take the gun and the situation seriously. When you decide to start target shooting with the child, be sure to have them use eye and ear protection. It may seem ludicrous to have your child use ear plugs when shooting a BB gun, but starting this practice early will ingrain the behavior for later, when the child is shooting louder and more dangerous firearms. Lastly, you need to model the same safe gun handling that you want your child to use. This means using eye and ear protection even if you haven’t since your hunting-trapping education class. This means treating your own weapons with the same gingerness and awareness as you want your child to practice. This also means that you need to share stories around your child that promote safe gun handling—bragging about a careless shot or about goofing around with a firearm while chatting with a buddy is totally off limits here, even if you feel your child is not within earshot.

Supervision is vital. The child should know from the very start that he is not allowed to touch/hold/use a firearm without you or another adult of your choice with him. When you do get the gun out of its locked location, be sure that you can give your child your undivided attention. This means leaving the phone, computer, work-related issues, etc. behind and giving your child every ounce of your attention. Not only does this help ensure that no gun safety rules are violated, it also enhances the bonding that can occur while outdoors and sharing a common interest.

Teach and re-teach the fundamentals of gun safety. The same nuggets of advice that were hammered into your head as a youngster in hunter-trapping eductation courses are just as viable today as they were decades ago. Treat every gun as if it is loaded. Always point your gun’s muzzle in a safe direction. Make sure the safety is on until you are ready to shoot. Don’t put your finger near the trigger until you are ready to pull it for a shot. Be sure of your target and what lies beyond it. Always shoot into a safe backstop (such as a hillside). Tell your child about these, demonstrate them, repeat them, quiz the child on them, etc. Ignore your child’s eye-rolls as you repeat and repeat again the fundamentals of safe gun handling ... and remind them that if they don’t take these pointers seriously, they don’t touch a gun. Case closed.

Practice safe gun handling. Before my daughter was able to shoot her BB gun for the first time, she was instructed in each of the gun safety rules (such as those listed above) and then was given an unloaded gun to carry as we walked through the woods next to our home. She received tons of praise whenever she followed the pointers I gave her while we walked, such as keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction, and gentle reminders as corrections when she violated one. Remember, no child, especially those at a young age, will be perfect in their gun handling practices from Day One. It takes practice, patience, and more practice. Watch how you are correcting the child ... if you become too overbearing or overreact to small infractions, the fun will be lost and it won’t be long until your child loses interest.

Actual shooting comes late in the process. Start at a fairly short distance and make sure the target is large. You want to maximize success, so the bigger the target to start, the more encouraged the child will feel each time he/she hits the mark. Over time, you can increase the distance between the child and the target and you can shrink the size of the bullseye. Again, make sure you don’t rush this step if you want your child to build confidence in their shooting abilities—confidence that will lead to safe gun handling.

Teach the child to value wildlife. Growing up, I was told that to shoot something, I needed to have a purpose—whether it be for eating or to lower the population of a nuisance animal (such as a groundhog in our family farm’s fields or excess pigeons near our hay-filled barns). I was never permitted to take pot shots at song birds or chipmunks. This is illegal activity and only leads to desensitized shooting of animals in the future. It is important to teach a child that when they do shoot at an animal, it needs to be done respectfully. To this day, I refuse to shoot at a deer or other animal unless I know I am taking a safe shot that will likely kill the animal with minimal suffering. I shake my head when I hear others brag about unloading a clip on a running deer, for example, and encourage all readers to make sure that young, impressionable shooters don’t get the wrong impressions from hunters who have less-than-suitable morals and ethics in the field.

Continue to make shooting, hunting, and all outdoor activities a family affair. The best way to make sure that your child is continuing the lessons you have taught them is to participate in shooting and hunting with them on a regular basis. If they start asking to hunt with a friend, invite the friend and his/her parents (if applicable) to hunt with you. This not only gives you a chance to meet new people with a passion for the outdoors but also allows you to get a better feel of whether or not the friend is a good influence and a safe hunting companion for your child as he/she nears adulthood and starts to hunt more independently.

Article from The Hunting Network