Did your parents own a gun?

[jsg]

There are pictures of me shooting a BB gun with my Dad when I was 4, 20 guage at 7, my own .22 at 9, and the list goes on. Dad figured I better be a good rifleman based on his Vietnam experience. I never heard Mom (a nurse) disagree.

I can recall walking through downtown (pop 1200) with an 11-48 Remington going squirrel hunting as an 11 year old and shooting clays from our front yard (over the Ohio river). It is very sad how much things have changed.

Dad and I got our CCW permits the first year the state offered them. Mom got hers a few years later.

The closest thing to Anti I can find is my grandfather's inability to see why anyone should own an AR or AK. :banghead:

 

[Invisible Swordsman]

We never had a gun in the family, but my father often talked about someday getting a .22 rifle. Somehow, some day never arrived. He did get me a Daisy pump BB gun and taught me how to shoot with it.

 

[ChCx2744]

I only grew up with my dad and grandmother. Dad didn't really speak much of the issue, but my grandma was extremely anti. The only people that taught me the basic fundamentals and the love of guns were my other elder role models.

 

[Shung]

my grandfather (Swiss) owned his issued K31, and my other grandpa (Italian) owned a side by side shotgun for hunting.. neither of my parents owned a gun...

Now, I think I own more guns myself than all my ancesters did for 300 years - And I did this in only 6 years

 

[GordonDET]

My grandfather & grandmother were also buried in that cemetery on the beach. The cemetery was mostly destroyed by hurricane Katrina . My ancestors on my fathers side are from Spain also.

I live in the area, if y'all want I would be more than willing to go over there one weekend and check out the current conditions of your ancestors last resting place and take some pics to send you so you know the current condition of the area. It would be a welcome diversion to a otherwise mundane weekend. If you want me to, just IM me some info so that I know who to look for.

As for the topic at hand, my parents were indifferent about guns. Never had any in the house growing up. My WWII vet grandfather used to have me do drills w/ a single shot .22 bolt gun when I visited growing up, I loved every minute of it. I first shot them in the bsa, liked it, liked guns, but waited until I was out of the house (kinda, lol) to start my collection. Been going ever since.

 

[mustang_steve]

My father was an avid gun collector/reloader (tried to go pro)/amateur gunsmith (did a pretty fine job at it). He got me into shooting a .22 rifle when I was 9 or 10 years old. He was also big on hunting, and went out to hunt deer or bear whenever possible, sometimes taking me along for the trip. Those were some good times....snow covered ground, the crunch of our boots in the snow, the salty taste of some good jerky sitting in the side of my mouth and a canteen full of hot coffee....looking for the clues that will lead us to the opportunity. I love hunting, it's almost like a time warp compared to the city life i live now.

My mother....she grew up hating guns. To her, they were a tool of destruction, sometimes necessary, but she refused to have anything to do with them. She also got pissed off when my dad gave me that .22 rifle.

Funny part....with age, my father is less of a shooter, my mother wants to give it a try, and I'm still the moderate between the two. To me a firearm is a tool, and a fun one at that so long as it's handled responsibly and safely.

 

[Isher]

Now I'm going to break your collective hearts.

We had a lot of guns. I grew up with them.

I inherited my grandfather's absolutely perfect

16 gauge side by side Parker, then went off to college.

Little did I know. The family finances hit the rocks.

So my mother sold off the whole lot.

No blame to her, she did right.

But there is still an empty space in my hand, and in my life,

For that Parker.

isher

 

[NMGonzo]

We had guns.

Nothing fancy or crazy.

 

[LaVere]

My dad had a single shot 12 guage shotgun. He use that for all of his hunting.
Mostly deer and small game. I don't know what ever happened to it.

 

[jzzr83]

My parents never owned a gun and wanted none in the house. But I remember going to see the first Pres. George Bush when he was at the Radisson in Lansing, MI (I was in grade school) and my father got into an argument about how gun rights pertain to the individual with some anti. I also got yelled at when I brought home an air rifle on my 18th birthday. (I won that battle and kept it). When I got married I ended up working for an armored truck company and they paid for my CCW, so I figured I should put it to good use and I am now fully addicted. And my father is still scared to hold any of the guns.

 

[captain awesome]

my dad and dads side of the family at least up till My grandfather are all very pro gun, my moms side seems somewhat in favor of it but not really out spoken on the subject. My dad had several while I was growing up but oddly enough I don't believe that is why I am pro gun. I have never heard any of the arguments in favor from any of them and really I think I just got my self into it.
I wasn't terribly interested in it as a kid, probably due to my dads over zealous(at least it seemed to me at the time) hunting trips. Call me lazy but as a ten year old I didn't like fast paced hiking 10-15 miles with a heavy scoped rifle on my shoulder and a nap sack. Don't know what changed in me, but I really love it/them now.

 

[Babarsac]

I didn't buy my first gun until I was 25 and living on my own. My mother is somewhat of an anti but now realizes that I'm serious and safety-conscious about owning firearms so she doesn't get on my case. My father isn't very vocal about the whole issue. His father hunted all the time but my dad never went. Though he is a big history buff like me and thinks the C&R stuff I have is pretty nifty.

 

[MAURICE]

My parents were anti as a child, but as I grew and became more interested in firearms they began to relax. I was 17 when I told them I wanted to get into silhouette shooting (.22LR) and they were cool with it. I think a lot of it had to do with me just growing up and not acting like a child anymore. After that it was all good and my mom has even been talking about purchasing a j frame. I bought her a red ryder BB gun as a joke for her birthday. Joke is on me though, she shoots that thing a lot.

 

[janedoedad]

Dad had a short-barrel Remington 870 and at least one pistol. Step-Father was a hunter who introduced me to shooting and hunting. He gave me several of his rifles over the years. I do my hunting at Kroger, but it is nice to know that I can find my own meat if neccessary.

 

[FROGO207]

My first recollection of firearms were at the age of about two. Inside every relatives door there was a shotgun that I now know was loaded. All lived in the country. Growing up I was told do not touch the gun, when you are old enough we will teach you how to use it. When I was six I was gathering food with a .22. Yes both parents all four grandparents and all other relatives old enough to be responsible had access to firearms. Some 35 if the count is correct with zero problems to this day with anyone left alive. The best training was from my mothers father. He would always say "here's a bullet get the .22 and get a rabbit,don't let it suffer either. Good shot good stalking skills. Mom was a better shot than dad and could she ever spot that deer no one else saw.For some reason my little sister never ended up with a firearm until she was 34, she always used one of ours. I fixed that last Christmas, I got her a NEF .410/45LC and called her up that morning around 8AM and asked how she liked her "girlie gun". Said one of my brothers got her ammo (planned) and she'd already shot it twice. Miss the good ole days.

 

[searcher451]

Yes; in fact, both parents owned guns. I was raised in an environment where guns were an everyday occurence and never a big deal. It's too bad that every household in the USA couldn't be like that, but it was a long time ago and things have changed -- not necessarily for the better.

 

[tribbles]

One of my earliest memories is of my dad cleaning his guns. My mom didn't have any of her own, but she grew up in a pro-gun family. When my brother and I were teens, we each received our own 12-gauge Charles Daly (the older Outdoor Sports-distributed ones, not the current breed) autoloader one Christmas and a Remington 552 Speedmaster another Christmas. That Charles Daly is a machine on dove, and I prefer that old Speedmaster over my wife's 10/22.

Mom has her own gun now, a .38 Taurus hammerless revolver for CCW that she's never had any problems with. Her brother has an FFL, and their dad (my grandpa) just gave me his Dillon 550B press and a bunch of reloading stuff, because I'm the only other avid reloader in the family.