Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
In the US, what happens is that kids play with "guns" without learning appropriate firearm handling skills.
YES, this is the key.
We are a hunting family. All (5) of my children grew up with rifles. But all of them knew basic safety before they were 4yrs old (never point at people or houses or cars... always rely on a bolt being open but don't rely on a safety catch... etc)

Even their toy guns were only used to go hunting deer or bears (my daughter placed a ban on hunting for tigers as they are endangered!), or to "play" at target shooting. They knew no war or shoot'em-up games were ok - though that did of course happen sometimes.

This safety awareness was obvious... to the point of two of my children (aged nearly 4 and nearly 5) telling my brother-in-law off because he came into the house with the bolt still in his rifle - bolts have to come out if you are in the house with a rifle. They noticed before he had made it 5 steps inside the door. Even him showing them the magazine and breech were empty wasn't good enough and he had to remove the bolt!!!

Aged now between 20 and 13, my children have good firearms safety awareness, and to date we have had no injuries or hooliganish behaviour.