Planning on getting your kid a pellet gun?
SA Gunowners' Association: Teach your children well.
One of the items on your child’s Christmas list could be a BB or pellet gun.
Should you as a parent submit to the request and buy one, it comes with a lot of responsibility as well. The SA Gunowners’ Association has given some important gun safety rules to help you along.
Pellet guns and air guns
Pellet guns have been the traditional ‘first gun’ of many a child but now that air guns have been ‘deregulated’ you may be considering the more powerful option.
Whichever ‘first gun’ your child handles, please make sure that it is treated with the same caution and respect as your own hunting rifle or handgun.
Safety begins with the first gun.
BB and pellet gun shooting
BB and pellet guns provide hours of enjoyment. They are also a good way to get started in a lifetime of shooting recreation and sport. Through air guns, boys and girls can safely learn the basics of good shooting.
These basics can take you into any number of other shooting activities, including all the way to the Olympics.
Always with an adult
Before handling any gun, always get permission from your parents or another responsible adult. If this is your first BB or pellet gun, sit down with your parents and discuss under what circumstances the gun can be handled.
Always learn how first
Before you start shooting, learn what it takes to shoot safely and successfully. Study the gun operations guide with your parents or another adult.
Be sure you understand all of the manufacturer’s instructions.
Always follow the safety rules:
Gun safety is a simple but continuous process. You develop safe handling skills only through proper, supervised practice.
The most important safety element is your attitude – knowledge and skills are of little value unless you really use them.
Being safe means that you always consciously keep your gun under control. Remember too that a gun’s mechanical safety device is never foolproof – nothing can ever replace safe gun handling.
Always on a safe shooting range
Whenever you shoot a BB or pellet gun it is essential that you use a safe shooting range.
A safe range can be set up in many places: in your home, community hall, recreation centre, etc; or outdoors in a backyard or farm – provided animals or people cannot cross your line-f-fire.
It is an offence to discharge a firearm or airgun in a built-up area or any public place of an airgun in one’s backyard is not allowed. To have a safe range three things must be present: a safe area; a safe distance and a safe backstop.
A local gun shop can usually tell you how to contact a nearby shooting club.
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