‘A rite of passage’: Why some parents buy guns for their children

For parents who purchase a gun for their child as a holiday present, the gift can bring family together around a shared interest and represents an initiation into the next phase of life.

Paul Kemp, a 64-year-old who lives outside Portland, Oregon, bought his son Nathan his first rifle for his 16th birthday over a decade ago. Nathan had notched his first hunting kill, a squirrel, at age 7, and the Kemp family enjoyed their time hunting together over the ensuing years. When his son turned 16 in December 2012, Kemp believed he was responsible enough to have his own firearm. “Hunting was a family tradition. Everybody enjoyed it,” Kemp told CNN in a phone interview. “Call it, I guess, a rite of passage.” That purchase reflects a relatively common American experience: Parents buying and gifting guns to their children for their birthday or around the holiday season. For these families, a gifted gun can bring people together around a shared interest and represents an initiation into the next phase of life. “A lot of people own guns themselves and value it as part of their lives and want to pass that on to their children,” said CNN contributor Stephen Gutowski, the editor of The Reload and a certified firearms instructor. Yet these days in particular, parents looking to purchase a firearm for their child for the holidays have to balance their hopes for the gift with the risks that come with such a purchase, such as an accidental shooting, suicide or the gun being used in a crime.