Reply #26: Not true.

[Xithras]

I was target shooting my dads .30-06 when I was 10 or 11, and my own kids took a few target shots on mine at about the same age. My older son has been using a .410 regularly since he was about 10, and has fired more game loads through my 12 gauge than I can count.

Sure, no kid is going to be firing 12 gauge deer slugs and even buckshot may be a problem, but that's true for many adults as well.

FWIW, I had a simple rule for my kids. When they could shoulder a rifle and hold the barrel level for 30 seconds without wavering, I pulled out the .22 and let them start plinking paper targets. For most kids, that's somewhere around eight or nine years old.