Did your parents buy you guns?

Yes my dad gave me my first gun at about age 12, then a couple more before I truned 18. I also bought several with my own money from pawn shops and gun stores before I was 18, and at 17 even found a scrapyard with a bunch of demilled .50 BMG in a pile, and bought several and made a working .50 with my dad's help. Hey, this was in 1960, and it was a very different time back then. Machine guns were no big deal, no one really cared very much, and they didn't even require registration as demils. Of course, putting one back together was a no-no, but I did register them during the '68 amnesty.

made a working .50 with my dad's help.

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NICE.

My dad bought me a pellet gun, .22 rifle and first shotgun when i was a teenager. He also gave me my grandaddy's Winchester mod 94.

I was about 10 or 11 when my Dad starting teaching me to shoot a 22 rifle.. Been hooked since.. I bought my first handgun when I was 22 though.

I bought my first gun myself. It was a cheapo 380 semi-auto pistol that I've sold to a friend not long after because I couldn't hit anything with it. The same friend I bought a cheap .38 special from a few years later. Ain't nothing ever been given to me.

BUT, I plan to buy a .22 my kids can shoot. Whether or not it's mine or theirs remains to be seen...

My parents where anti gun and still lean that way. That being said, they did buy me my first gun---a Mossberg 500 in 12ga. I was a good student and started working the day after I turned 15. When they asked me what I might like for a graduation present I said the Mossberg. They gave me the money to get it with no argument.

John

For my 9th Christmas (1962) Dad bought me a brand new Remington 514 .22 rifle. Still have it and shoot it.

Was given my first Daisy BB gun at the age of 6 by my parents.
Another Daisy at 9.
A Benjamin .177 pellet rifle at 12.
An H&R 20 gauge single shot at 13.
And my dear late mom bought me my first deer rifle at the age of 20 in 1973.

Yes.

When I was 5 my grandparents gave me a BB rifle, wall rack and metal-box cleaning kit for Christmas. That was 1955 and children were allowed to have guns - it was normal.

During the next, oh, 6 or 7 years my parents gave me a Savage 24 .22WMR/.410 and a Fox Model B 12 ga. My uncle gave me a Marlin Mountie. I know I'm forgetting something, but that list will do for now.

Of course I had access to any number of guns if I asked to use them, but those few were mine.

John

edited to add: I had to buy my own BBs and ammo.

It seems here in Western WA, not many minors have access to firearms. In September, I had saved up some money and went to the gun store with my dad, where he handed the fella my cash, and the attendant handed us the rifle. Yes, it was a "straw purchase", but I don't think the law sees it in that way because he is my legal guardian. When you are under 18, anything in your possession is legally owned by your parents. If you go shoot someone with "your" .22, what you really did was shoot someone with your dad/mom's .22.

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I think you are right. Technically that rifle belongs to your dad until you turn 18, and then he would "gift" it to you.

At least, I hope that is how it works Because that is what I did when I was 12...my dad made me save up.

What is the statute of limitations on that kind of thing?

No. My parents would not allow firearms in the house, not even a BB gun. However, when I returned to their home (briefly) as a young adult, I owned a Ruger Super Redhawk and they did let me keep that.

I have bought several guns for my son (12) but the guns stay in my room, locked up. Maybe when he's older, I'll let him keep one in his room, but the ammo will stay with me. Even if I trust him, I probably won't trust his friends.

My aunt, a vet and lifelong hunter in northern WI gave me a .22 for my 11th birthday. My parents were fine with it (dad used his to dispatch troublesome critters), but I wasn't allowed to shoot without supervision, or near the house.

My high-school graduation present from my dad was a sporterized M1898 Krag.

The only gun my Dad bought me was a Daisy BB gun which my Mother promptly hid and I never saw again. In fact, the only gun he ever owned was a Montgomery Wards “Ted Williams” single shot bolt action .22 rifle that he paid $10 for.

The above is anecdotal evidence that being a “gun nut” is not necessary tied to your genes.

No one has ever bought me a gun. I did take the CCW class with my dad and brother though. My mom, gf and brother's gf took it together too.

They bought me a Daisy BB gun that I promptly took out and killed a cottontail, my first kill. Dad showed me how to clean it, Mom fried it up for me, best meal I ever had. Got it take away a few days later for shooting the yardlight out at the empty farmhouse across the highway from us. Firearms? Nope, that was on me to purchase. We had an old Winchester single shot .22 that was kept in the stairway that I wasn't allowed to touch. Of course I spent many hours messing around with it, kids being kids.

My dad gave me some and my son is not even born yet and he has two. One from me and one from his grandfather

First rifle at 13 it was my great grandfathers .22 from 1895 still have it and it shoots great.

My dad gave me my first one when I was 11 y.o. I still have it. Since then, he has given me several for Christmas gifts; in fact I just got one this past Christmas.

My dad gave me my first for my 12th birthday, a used, no s.n. Glenfield Model 25 bolt action .22 rifle, and I still have it. He recently gave my 14 year old son his Marlin 39A, (which was the first gun I ever shot, when I was eight). Thanks Dad.

Wannabe, where in WA do you live. Come spring there are berries, and bulbs, spinich seed weeding.....you are not quite old enough for peas, but if you have access to any agracultural areas there are summer (and some spring/fall/winter) work to be found for young folk in that area. There is always yard work in more urban, suburban areas....$10/hr their equipment, $20/hr your equipment. A lot of people would rather pay to have their yard work done than do it themselves.

Ag is one of the few areas the Unions have not put off limits for kids (through legislation) the Unions don't like cheap compitition and the unions are politically strong in WA.

There are other things you can do, like volunteer where you would like to be employed later, but you cannot be "paid" for the work...it is just a way to get your foot in the door. Probably the most visible of these kind of volunteers is the candy stripers at your local hospital, but that is not the only place...you say you want to be a gun smith...find a gun smith that will allow you to help, while you learn.

Wow... hell no!
My parents are strongly anti-gun. In their minds, it's the same thing as giving me a spoon, lighter, a dirty needle they got from a junkie, and some heroin and telling me that if I shoot up, it will feel really good.

No, but my MIL bought me an awesome Swedish Mauser for my birthday one year. Best present ever, and best MIL who ever lived, (for this and many other reasons).

No, my parents are so anti they wouldn't even let me have a cap gun (Thanks Uncle John, hee hee).

When my sister married a Class III guy, he managed to convince my mom she needed a self defense handgun. She was about 75 at the time and got a Dan Wesson .22 with an 8" barrel. Think it weighed about 50lbs. When I asked to see what she'd chosen because I was all happy, I found it loaded with BLANKS, because, 'Well I wouldn't want to SHOOT anybody'.

I took it off her and gave it back to my brother-in-law.

I got a Daisy pellet gun for my 12th Christmas but after that nothing.

I think my parents were, and still are put off by my affinity for firearms...