It all boils down to responsible ownership. Part of that responsibility is appropriate personal use and the proper training of others. And things need to be put into perspective; by far, more people are killed by the improper use of a motor vehicle (reckless driving, aggressive driving, excessive speed for the conditions, being under the influence and texting as examples) than are killed by the improper use of a firearm. Additionally, firearms related deaths are often misrepresented. If for example (just picking a number) 2000 people were killed in a given year by firearm, that number is often used with the agenda of making it seem it's children shooting children or gang violence or whatever the person/group is trying to skew the numbers towards. Quite often, the number also includes police action shooting and private citizens lawfully defending themselves. Yet those lawful shootings are lumped into 'gun violence'.
Additionally, there have been multiple accounts of a child or young adult successfully defending themselves with a firearm. In most cases, an adult who was a responsible owner trained the child/young adult in the proper use of firearms and they later used a firearm to defend themselves. Usually during a home invasion situation. It depends upon the situation of course and it will vary from family to family. As mentioned earlier, my grandfather (and my father) had their own .22 rifles at around the age of 8 and often went out hunting with them. That was the norm. I still have my grandfathers single-shot .22 rifle (Winchester 1902). I recently gave my son a Hi-Point 995TS 9mm Carbine. He also has his own .22 rifle, a Marlin 60. He is quite proficient with both as well as my off-duty handguns which he has access to if needed. He treats them with respect as he would a hammer or screwdriver or any other such tool.
We were recently discussing the situation in Detroit on the SEP board. I'll link to it and if you're interested, post #6 has some interesting statistics and a link to the full article.
Packing heat in Detroit: Motown residents answer police chief's call to arms