This weekend COSSA (Central Oregon Shooting Sports Association) had an open house at their range just east of Bend. It gave the kids (Hunter, Noah and Abbie) a chance to shoot for the first time. Hunter and I both got to shoot an old fashioned cowboy 38 single action 6 shooter. You had to be 12 or older to fire it. Here is Hunter shooting it.
Something interesting I leaned about these classic weapons you see in the movies. Even though the revolver has 6 chambers cowboys from the old west only typically ever had 5 shots loaded with the 6th chamber empty at the top is so that if for instance the gun fell out of hits holster on the floor in the saloon it wouldn't go off. If however they were going into a gun fight, they might then load a 6th into the last chamber with the trigger cocked and ready.
Here is some pictures and video of the kids shooting 22 caliber rifles at targets. Hunter had a more full sized rifle, whereas you can see with Abbie she has a small one for her size.
A good friend of mine told me once that if you teach kids about guns and gun safety when they are young, the 'mystique' of guns goes down and respect for them goes up resulting much lower chance of an incident/accident. They don't have a desire to play with it, and they will avoid other kids who do not respect it. Its the kids told 'never to touch' that often get into trouble when an opportunity presents itself. I think this is wise advice.