Hunters and gun owners, do you think that paintball and airsoft "guns" teach young people the wrong thing?

My daughter is going to be old enough this summer for me to teach to shoot. It will likely be done with either a BB or airsoft toy gun. But she'll be taught to treat it as I expect her to treat actual firearms later in life as I teach her and she grows. As a tool, they can be used well. If I were a bad parent and gave the 'toys' to my kid to do with as they please, the kid can't be held to blame for what I don't teach.

Airsoft, BB skirmish and paintball teach you nothing other than how to **** about.

I believe that they do teach bad gun safety. I think that every parent should make their child take a firearms safety class before they even think of giving their kids anykind of gun lethal or not.

I have deep-seated issues with any "sport" that involves putting your sights on and/or shooting at others. My secondary problem with Airsoft (The fact that most of them sound like pimple-faced idiots) is irrelevant.

No, you're not the only one that feels this way. Airsoft started in Asian countries like japan where even seeing a real gun in use is a once in a lifetime chance for may Japanese. I remember my amusement during a trip to a shooting range in Hawaii, finding that most of the customers were Japanese, and were renting .22s (at exorbitant fees) and shooting them while only under the direct supervision of the RSO. Apparently, this was part of the "tourist experience" for them. In such countries, airsoft is the closest thing they will ever get, and since none of the participants will ever be allowed to own a real gun: Teaching gun safety is unimportant. Likewise, here in the US, airsoft seems to still be mainly the recreation of well-to-do suburbanite kids with little to zero real gun experience (You should have seen the look on my nephew's face- who's deeply into airsoft- when I allowed him to handle my old Mauser last summer). However, these kids can and do grow up to want the real thing, and they need to be taught from an early age the respect for arms and weaponry if they are ever to take them seriously. This is where the problem starts. There is a little municipal range not far from me where I go to shoot once a week or more, and occasionally fill in as a range officer. Its only a 100 yard rifle range, but its close, nicely kept, and convienient; and there is a small corps of regulars there who have become a sort of informal gun club. Anyways, the number of young men who show up there from time to time with very expensive "tactical" style weapons and absolutely no clue as to how to use them is also an occasional source of entertainment. Whether this is from the influence of airsoft or video games I have no clue, but its vlear the owners of these weapons have a few things in common (besides high credit limits): a penchant for black guns, picatinny rails on every conceivable surface, and the complete lack of any sort of marksmanship or the patience to develop it. A young man a week or two ago brought one of these rifles to the range, and set it up at the 50 yard line. It was a 6.8 SPC upper AR, and among other techno-gewgaws, and the required enormous scope, somehow managed to sport both a vertical foregrip AND an attached bipod. He was shooting three inch groups: from 50 yards from a concrete bench. He also managed to make a snide remark about the rifles I had leaning next to my position (something about expecting a charge of redcoats I believe). I had brought two rifles that day: a Swiss K31 I had just picked up the week before, and my beloved K98. He quieted down a little after I bested his grouping with the Mauser: from offhand (with a shooting sling), and with iron sights, and firing all five rounds in under ten seconds. If this boy had foregone the $3-4000 that his ridiculous setup had cost him, and simply bought a .22 and learned how to shoot properly before moving up to more serious hardware, he would be much more effective than any number of lasers and bipods could make him. But, patience is not a virtue when your goal is "levelling up."

I wouldnt put paintball in they same boat, i guess because most dont look like real guns and people that play are usually older. I think most paintball places require you to be at least 16 to play. The questions asked by COD fans and airsofters make me nervous though...

No problem with that. Back in my day, we used regular BB guns and had a 'dont shoot the face' rule. If you got one under your skin you just got tough and took it out. I think they invented airsoft/paintball as simply a less painful way to still shoot each other with out fear of death. I dont think its stupid or that it goes against my interests as an ethical gun owner.

I honestly think that bb guns, paintball guns, and airsoft guns are the best thing to get a 12 year old for his or her birthday. why? because these guns are very safe compared to real guns. you can teach a kid all of the safety of a gun by using an airsoft gun. it will get kids used to the concept of a safety, and it will let a kid experience the idea of using sights on their gun, and it will enstill the idea of keeping your gun clean, up to date, and all of the parts working. These guns also allow kids to make mistakes. i have been shot in the face with a bb gun, and i'm not dead. i smacked my little brother and ever since, he's been great with keeping real guns pointed in safe directions, such as at a hippy or a communist. (That was a joke) there is no way to keep kids from acting violent in games like army or whatever you said earlier. violence is instinctive. and guys are always gonna be into war.

The way they play those war games YES it is. But the airsoft guns would be a good way to train a young person how to shoot and handling as if it was a real gun and all of the safety rules.Gust like my dad did when he gave me my bb gun.