Do you come from a non-gun family?

[wannabeagunsmith]

More or less anti, at first. My dad always thought gun ownership with kids around was suicide because at age 3 he found his dad's .44 mag and....well let's just say no injuries, thankfully. My mom.... wow she was a mess at first lol one of her friends was gunned down in a college shooting and she never let us have toy guns or anything. So that, added to public school fear mongering made me scared to even think about guns at all. I joined Cub Scouts and once at a camp they had BB gun shooting and I was hooked! I never even touched the bow-and arrows and at the end of the camp, I was awarded the best marksman of camp and after that, my views on guns changed signifigntly.
A few years later (well....when I was 14) my mom decided that keeping my ever-growning interest firearms at bay was impossible and let my sister and I go to a marksmanship course at the local shooting range and after shooting a .22, I was now offically hooked. So I began to pester my dad in vain to buy guns after reading NRA accounts of the importance of firearm ownership and it never worked until my dad's best friend, who has 10 kids, bought a gun and another and another till he had several with plenty of ammo. One night that friend came over and "helped me out" and dispelled all my dad's and most of my mom's fears and convinced my dad to give a range trip a try (I agreed of course ). Shortly thereafter my dad bought a .22 rifle and a 9mm handgun and we are now past the days of gun hatred here in our house. Except....my dad won't buy me any guns! (and I was the main influence/reassurer in all his purchases.)

 

[holdencm9]

My family had no guns growing up, were not hunters, had no other relatives that shot, and although my parents were not anti-gun per se, I definitely had to do a lot of begging to convince them to let me take the DNR hunter safety course and save up to buy a 10/22 when I was 12 years old. My dad was more open to the idea as he had a few friends who shot and/or collected firearms. My mom just had no experience or knowledge of them so I think her fear/opposition to them just grew out of no exposure other than the 10 o'clock news.

When I turned 21 I bought my first handgun and although they were both opposed to it at first, after a few trips to the range they caught the bug and now both my parents have a handgun of their own.

 

[justice06rr]

My immediate family (parents, brother/sis) is somewhat ironic. They are not into firearms although the rest of my family on my dad's side is LE/Military. I guess my dad isn't big on firearms, but I've always known its in my blood.

Even my brother won't go to the shooting range with me. Oh well, their loss!!!

 

[ErikO]

I have a brother that was the 'lone gun guy' for a while in the family. His daughter and son-in-law are avid hunters.

 

[turbo]

Strange story, My Granddad {on my Pops side} was murdered on His job as night watchman, and so there where no guns in our house, period. At about 10 We go to visit grandma {on my pops side} in upstate NY, Rock Hill to be exact, and they drop me off to run errands and I'm following Grandma around her house and what do i spy in the closet but a well worn .22 rifle. Well she see's me snatching glances at the rifle and the next thing i know she's on the phone{party line!} to the guy across the street with a request to introduce Me to the fundamentals of plinking. Can you imagine trying that today? I guess there may still be places in this great country where it might happen. So I got to shoot half a box of shorts, got some solid do's and don'ts and still didn't get a gun till i was 18 and out of the house. Oh and i never gave Grandma up either.

 

[SimplyChad]

Dad is a old redneck and loved them but before i was born mom made him pack em up, sell them or as i found out hide them. Mom grew up with guns but at some point turned anti extreamly anti. Freaked out at the sight of them wouldnt let them in the house. On my 15th birthday my dad had an old rifle that was stolen to him returned by the police. Mom told him to get rid of it. He walked around the house twards his truck and threw it through my window onto my bed and said he didnt want to see it until i was 18. Turns out he had a few around the house. Mom has warmed up my bothers are progun. My sister however if i come to visit my parents wont be in the house with me if im carrying. You should have seen the look in her eyes when her husband and me had her kids shooting a 22.

 

[dark.zero.x]

First off I have a strange family, my parents split kinda early and remarried and had more kids. I am the oldest of 6 in my early 20's with my youngest sister being 2. There were no gun people in my family just neutral and staunch anti, I picked up my interest from a very young age, and most of my time was spent either on the internet learning or buying every book I could find on military firearms. My mother was very against it and my father looked the other way, as time went on, my mother remarried to a IPSC shooter (thank god) and she went from anti to pro 2A I still wasnt allowed to own any firearms so I started to collect airsoft guns (before I knew about the game) and I was given my first firearm on my 18th birthday. My father also remarried, but she was HARDCORE anti. Well one of my younger brothers saw my collection and has been hooked, much to the frustation of his mother. Ive been teaching him everything I can (most importantly gun safety) now with the blessing of his mother.

Slowly but surely I am converting them all to a pro 2A stance

 

[ByAnyMeans]

I grew up with a family that never discussed guns at all among extended family, a little with my dad and no other exposure since it was NYC.

My dad grew up shooting and did have a shotgun in the house. He taught us how to shoot it and would bust clays on some Saturdays. At the range he would tell us about my grandfathers WW II 1911 that was gifted to him.

My uncle in Florida who was a shooter was holding it for him since my dad never went through the process to get a pistol permit. Other than those Sat. there was no talk about them.


I moved to Northeast Pennsylvania a few years ago. This gave me the opportunity to go gun crazy fulfilling a need that had been growing.

One Sunday at a family dinner my Aunt asked me what I had been up to. I figured the truth shall set me free and explained how I had been acquiring a large gun collection and been having a blast at the shooting range.

I detailed some of the many guns that I had purchased leading off with the "assault rifles" and my carry guns that were now carried 24/7.

There was a pause for a minute and then my brother discussed his Ak-47 and Glock 19, my cousin his new Ar-15. One of my uncles who runs a security company starts busting my chops over my G19 and talks about his
Colt .45 he has had for over 20 years as a carry gun. My other Aunt said she was getting a new .38 from my other uncle as a christmas gift (have to wait for the permit to clear) and wanted to come to my house to shoot it and try my AK's. It was a hilarious moment and needless to say guns is now a big discussion at Sunday dinners.


Edited to add: My dad had the 1911 transferred to me and it's my collections best piece.

 

[Skribs]

It's weird for me. My Dad's side of the family, who come from Washington State (half still live here, half don't) aren't into guns as far as I know. I always have been, and apparently my Mom's wanted one since her and my Dad got married, but at 22 I was the first in my immediately family to get a firearm. Now my parents each have one and we are looking at our next purchases.

However, when my Mom showed a picture of my handgun to her relatives, they all showed her that they had firearms. The odd thing - all of my Mom's family live in California! That one really shocked me.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I inherited my Dad's Colt Pocket Auto .32, which was the only gun in the house until I was 12, when I got a Stevens model 34 bolt-action .22 for my birthday. They were the only 2 guns in that house. Nobody was ever interested in guns, except for me, though nobody was rabidly anti-gun. I collected the rest after I was married and nobody else in the family has since gotten into guns, either. My former brother-in-law, a Marine, had nurtured my love for guns and once even bought my sister a Glenfield 60, which is also now mine.

 

[Serenity]

I have noticed here and other threads that tons of stories end with "then I got him/her to go to the range and he/she loved it and now has his/her own guns."

Not many "and he/she never went back" stories! I think they "speak" for themselves, if you can just get someone to try them out.

 

[B33fC8k]

I come from a non-gun family. When I had firearms in the house, my father did not even want to know what/where.

Now I am still the only member (I think on the entire side of 25+) that owns a firearm. It may just be coincidence, but the family always said I was the smartest.

 

[purpplehaze]

Mom and dad (divorced) are both PRO-gun. Whenever I walk into my LGS it brings back memories of walking into my G/pa's walk-through closet when I was a child. He had so many long guns lined up against the wall that you literally couldn't see the wall and along the top closet shelf it was stacked with ammo and soft-shelled pistol cases to the ceiling. God Bless Texas

 

[pockets]

Yes, I come from a non-gun family.....my father, mother, and siblings are not guns.

.

 

[Nordeste]

Neither pro, nor anti. Ownership of a firearm for self-defense is uncommon for a civilian over here (not that there aren't, but permits are the exception and not the rule), and even though there are families in which some of their members hunt or shoot for sporting purposes, mine wasn't one.

I did become a cop and started shooting IPSC thereafter, so for them it all just makes sense. I live in very peaceful area and seldom carry for protection, but they're used to see me cleaning my pistols at home, and no one bothers.

One of my shooting buddies is a different story, though . He handloads his own ammo side by side with his Dad, who has been a shooter all his life and keeps shooting regularly at 75, and his Mom shoots .22 and keeps winning matches in her category in the present day. I'd love to have parents like that!.

 

[VeeArDoubleyouSee]

Mom is strongly anti-gun, dad doesn't care either way. Got them to get me my first rifle, a Mosin Nagant 44, when I was 16. I think they thought I would get it out of my system and not join the military.

I joined anyway, went USMC infantry. I'm still living at home while going to school, but I have 11 firearms here and they just deal with it.

I'm also about the only shooter out of my friends, and everyone I've introduced to shooting, loves it.

 

[EvilGenius]

Came from a no gun family.

Not anti, just never really interested in them and don't know much about them. (They live in AR now and are weirded out but a bit curious about the young kids in the local newspaper with pics of their first deer) My brother had a bb gun growing up but it mostly just sat in the closet. I started gaining interest when I'd watch TNN on lazy Sunday mornings and see all the sporting shows and was really amazed by the outdoor games when they'd show them.

My Ex was pretty much anti, not aggressively so, but when she was young her step dad (used to have big drug problem but great guy now) kept a loaded pistol in his nightstand. He'd get high then go outside and shoot at birds that bugged him. Scared her for life.

My first access came from my grandfather who grew up plinking in the countryside with his old winchester .22. He's on deaths door now and a couple years back he realized it and gave out all his guns that'd been sitting in a safe for years. I got that old winchester and a marlin 39a my great grandfather had bought in the 80s.

I had to keep them with my brother until my ex and I broke up. Now I live with my awesome girlfriend who's a LEO. Bought my first handgun last spring and am looking at a rifle and a shotgun for this years tax return.

 

[8654Maine]

Great topic.

I was born in a country where gun ownership is very restrictive. My family didn't have guns.

I broke the mold. My brothers like to shoot my guns.

I am forever amazed at our 2nd Amendment & how prescient our founding fathers were.

But, I am also forever dismayed how callous & nonchalant we are towards our liberties and rights.

If only they knew.

 

[19&41]

Another child of divorce. Grew up with my mother. She wasn't anti gun, she was, I guess unsure about when I should have a firearm. My father got me my first guns, and he kept them for me and we would shoot when I was with him. About 6 years after my father passed, I had bought a Hi-Power and let my mother shoot it at the range. I was trying to show her how and she said she already knew how to shoot it, my dad had taught her with a Hi-Power years before! She was a great shot too! I never would have guessed.

 

[qcsmitty]

Non-gun family and a non-gun culture. Most all of my friends have been liberals and as I get older and more conservative, I become a near "loner" in my pursuit of a more secure position for my family and me.

To my so-called friends,
*!?#¥?! 'em

 

[Hocka Louis]

Although half Mom's side of the family were professional military, after his own service, Dad had nothing to do with guns except for giving my Grandad a new .22 for crows on the farm. My parents didn't discourage nor promote guns. But I literally grew up in a high-chair biting the corner out of crackers to make toy pistols, making them out of Tinker-Toys for Show-n-Tell in Kindergarten... My parents had their hands full.

Dad let me get a decent enough BB/Pellet rifle when I was a tween (I could easily make one hole at 10 meters). As a teenager I started hunting with friends and bought a blackpowder arm. I suppose it wasn't till I was a young adult that I started getting my own modern cartridge guns. But I could see Dad's disappointment when I stopped by his home and showed him my (first) handgun...

 

[DavidMS]

My mom is fairly anti-gun and my dad is neutral (I think). I have not told them, its easier that way. She grew up an army brat but only saw my grandfather's service pistol when he went to qualify with it. My great grandfather served in the Czar's army during the Russo Japanese war and at the urging of his wife, escaped the country a few years before World War I and settled in the Midwest.

My dad's family is Middle European. On my Grandmother's side, I had a relative who was in the Austrian Army in Italy in the 1850s (before Girabaldi kicked them out) and others later who were conscripted during the First World War. There was a somewhat distant uncle who fell under the influence of the Zionists (his mother's words) and joined a terrorist group called the Irgum. Besides that, my dad did his duty in Vietnam, failed pistol qualification but got passed because the examiner wanted to go home. As for me, a combination of friends and coworkers over the years nudge me in this direction.

I like target shooting and think the Milsurp bug bit me when a bough a Mosin.

 

[Nordeste]

On reading opinions like 8654Maine's, I strongly feel like saying something. Hope you don't mind me doing so.

I STRONGLY suggest that you guys makes sure that no one, ever, tries to get your gun rights away from you. Bear in mind that you're quite much the exception, and not the rule, in the whole globe. Whoever tries has to go a long way since it's written in your Constitution, but believe me if I say there's a lot of people out there who envies what for you are rights, and what are privileges for others.

 

[valnar]

Thank you for the kind words Nordeste. We do realize we are blessed to live in the USA. Unfortunately, not all of our fellow citizens feel the same way.

 

[19&41]

Nordeste, I hope you like your Star 30M, I had one and it was a nice shooter and well built!