My Dad had his own .22 for the last few years in my grandfather's house, but left it there when he left for the National Guard, school, and my wonderful Mother
After he and my mom had settled down and he started working as a teacher, but never got that .22 or any other guns, even though he had been decent with an AR in the Guard.
I grew up with minimal exposure to violence, and I didn't have even one toy gun save a wiffle ball bat- which was Davy Crockett's "Old Betsy" to me. Eventually my Dad felt so sorry for my twin brother and I that he jigsawed a pair of 2x4s into some rifles. I could not possibly tell you how many times St. Mere Eglise, Baghdad, Yorktown, the Alamo, Bastonge, Iwo Jima, Gettysburg, and the Somme were won by the two heroic American soldiers... good times.
By the time we were 13, my Dad managed to convince my Mom, over a period of months, that we were ready for a BB gun. Coolest thing in the world when we finally got it that March - a Daisy 901 multi pump. Shot a dozen crows and a rabbit with it (believe me, my brother and I were adamant about "confirming" each other's kills- twin brothers and competition...
) My Brother and I LOVED that BB gun. Unfortunately, it is now (4 years later) starting to give out... That June, my brother got himself his own Daisy 880 for his birthday- so now we each had a BB/Pellet gun, and woe be to any crow or varmint or pop can trying to eat the garden!
That Christmas, my brother and I both got our own break barrel pellet guns as an upgrade from our BB guns. Have shot thousands and thousands of pellets through those, I remember still, I shot 2 crows the day I got mine. Mine broke a few months ago though...
Meanwhile, the economy started going bad and home invasions and thefts in my area skyrocketed. My Mom was much more confident in our (and my Dad's!
) responsibility, and they both thought about getting a gun in case someone showed up for our boiler pipes and valuables while we were home. My Dad finally stopped by after church and picked up his old Winchester 290 .22 from his old closet, untouched in many, many years.
We already had our pellet rifle range in the backyard, shooting down a hill, into a creek, with a huge dirt backstop, a hill behind that, and then 2 miles of corn. This was cleared by the neighbors across the street, a park ranger and an LEO, and when we moved from those single shot pellet rifles to a semi automatic .22, we were HOOKED.
Now my parents didn't have a very realistic view of home defense, but I guess a .22 locked unloaded in the closet with ammo locked in the basement is better than nothing. My mother did request my old base ball bat to stick under her bed.
My parents saw the, um, problems with this and my Dad began looking at shotguns at the suggestion of a Church friend, who has over 80 guns, and soon enough we had my Mom's Dad's old deer gun, a Mossberg 500ATP 12 guage, 18.5" with nice rifle sights.
Granted, my Dad still kept this gun unloaded, in the closet with a trigger lock, but at least had the key and some ammo nearby.
That July, there was a service at Church all about raising awareness of Sex Trafficking and all that very evil stuff, and something changed in both of them. My Mom was worried about herself, and way more so, keeping my young sister safe. Both of them looked into, and had tons of help from some pro gun friends, about getting CHLs. Both my parents realized the reality and lost their "it can't happen to us" mentality. In August, my Dad, brother, and I went to a gun show on a mission: My brother and I wanted single shot shotguns, and my Dad wanted a pair of handguns. Came home with HUGE smiles, some new friendships with gun shop owners, a pair of 12 gauge H&Rs, a .380 Hi-Point, and a .22 Pheonix. Really expensive stuff! Not... 'Twas a great day for the family!
Soon after, my Mom's Dad gave us his 2 single shot H&Rs that had been sitting in his basement since he stopped hunting due to his age. One of the ones we had bought was sold at the local gun shop, highly recommended by my Dad's teacher buddies, all of whom spend every lunch talking about guns, hunting, their Kids, their pools, and stuff.
Our backyard range was used more and more, and all of us become gun nuts, slowly, with the help of the forums here and stuff like that. From those, my twin brother and I began thinking more and more about the need for self defense in and out of the home, as did our Dad. Before long, the locks went away from the single shot shotguns in the closet, and a few buckshot shells were hidden from view nearby. My Dad's Hi-Point .380 (cheap, heavy, low capacity, but very reliable) was kept with the magazine loaded, ready to go.
On Black Friday, my Dad and I ran to Dick's early in the morning and came home with lighter wallets, big smiles, and an H&R Pardner Pump, a gun safe for my brother and my room, and a small handgun safe for my Dad. Another grand day!
Right after Christmas, my Dad took my brother and I to the gun range for our Christmas present, we'd be trying out all sorts of guns there and stuff. When we got there, there was a 4 hour line, so we ended up googling the nearest gun shops and heading out instead. Came home with a Hi-Point 9mm Carbine for my brother and an old Marlin .22 bolt for me.
Dad got a CHL in multiple states and an NRA membership.
3 break ins on our street in 2 weeks, and both pump shotguns and the 9mm Carbine were kept loaded. Another big factor in our gun ownership- a while ago, when my older cousin was 9, a man broke in through her basement door and raped her. I slept in the basement, near the back door, and my 9 year old sister is upstairs in her room. Any intruder is not getting up there except over the dead bodies of my twin brother and I. Period. And then they have my father. Evil men beware! Come in from upstairs? Good luck making it down the hallway past my Dad...
In June, my twin brother got a Saiga in 5.45, and we converted it in my grandfather's workshop next door. We all felt good about having an assault rifle in the house, in case of WROL. mob, foreign paratroopers, ya never know... besides, at 14 cents a round, it is a blast to shoot! Literally!
And
today, my Dad just got himself a Kel-Tec PF-9 as an EDC gun, and also came home with a Ruger P95. My Mom will be taking her classes to get her CHL soonish.
And, that is the long story, because I am really bored and felt like typing, of how my parents, me and my brother, and of course our future children have joined the ranks of you gun folks...
Some may go out for a drink on their 21st, I'll be headed out to get my CHL. I have family to keep safe, and more and more I'll be taking my younger siblings and others here and there. When my Dad's not there, my brother and I are responsible for them, and it is that feeling of responsibility that has made the decision for us.
