So you want to take your kid shooting, and this will include letting the kid shoot a handgun under your supervision.
You're the parent, and you can do this, right? Even if the kid is under 18, surely the law allows parents to train their kids in the safe and accurate use of guns, including pistols, right?
Not exactly.
What if you want to send your son out with his grandfather's farm to do some fishing, and ATV riding, and .22 pistol shooting.
You're not going to be there. Do you need to write a permission slip or something to authorize your dad to let your son handle and use Grandpa's pistol under Grandpa's direct supervision?
Now what if Grandpa lives in Atlanta and doesn't own a ranch, but does have a membership at an indoor range where, let's just say hypothetically, where the range rules and policies allow any minor to shoot "where authorized by law." Can gramps take his 16 year old grandson to the indoor range and let him shoot that S&W 22A plinker?
What if you want to let your son go hiking with his best friend's family, up in the North Georgia mountains, and this family intends to bring a .22 rifle and a .22 pistol with them on the hike and do a bit of plinking in a remote area of the Chattahoochee National Forest (legal if done safely, even though forest service personnel recommend sticking to established shooting ranges)?
FOR THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS, see both the law that makes it generally a crime for a minor to possess a handgun (and for kids under 17, it would be prosecuted in juvenile court as a delinquent act, not literally a crime). Code section 16-11-132, AND THEN SEE this other law that applies to the adult(s) who helped supply the handgun in question to that minor: Code section 16-11-101.1.
You're the parent, and you can do this, right? Even if the kid is under 18, surely the law allows parents to train their kids in the safe and accurate use of guns, including pistols, right?
Not exactly.
What if you want to send your son out with his grandfather's farm to do some fishing, and ATV riding, and .22 pistol shooting.
You're not going to be there. Do you need to write a permission slip or something to authorize your dad to let your son handle and use Grandpa's pistol under Grandpa's direct supervision?
Now what if Grandpa lives in Atlanta and doesn't own a ranch, but does have a membership at an indoor range where, let's just say hypothetically, where the range rules and policies allow any minor to shoot "where authorized by law." Can gramps take his 16 year old grandson to the indoor range and let him shoot that S&W 22A plinker?
What if you want to let your son go hiking with his best friend's family, up in the North Georgia mountains, and this family intends to bring a .22 rifle and a .22 pistol with them on the hike and do a bit of plinking in a remote area of the Chattahoochee National Forest (legal if done safely, even though forest service personnel recommend sticking to established shooting ranges)?
FOR THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS, see both the law that makes it generally a crime for a minor to possess a handgun (and for kids under 17, it would be prosecuted in juvenile court as a delinquent act, not literally a crime). Code section 16-11-132, AND THEN SEE this other law that applies to the adult(s) who helped supply the handgun in question to that minor: Code section 16-11-101.1.