How many here didn't start shooting until they were an adult?

[bob40caliber]

Not till I was an adult.
Since then I made up for the lost time.

 

[ccoyle]

My dad wasn't a hunter, and though I had shot BB and pellet guns at an early age, he tried to start me on cartridge guns with a .30-30 before I was ready -- wound up gun shy as a result for many years. My college roommate got me into hunting, but I didn't get my first deer until I was 32. Kids who have knowledgable parents, relatives, or neighbors who get them started in shooting and hunting early are truly blessed.

 

[Ignition Override]

Those who lack an understanding of human nature ban objects.

The family members who are more astute realize that the resultant reaction is far stronger than the initial ban. This reminds me of the present bans on certain books and other free speech.

Crystal clear example: my wife and her brother were in the back seat at a drive-in movie: "Psycho", around 1961?

Her (Army wife) mother turned around during the "shower scene " and told my wife and her brother to get down and "don't look!".

 

[jamesgs4]

Went shooting a few times with my uncles when i was a kid. Then a few years a ago when i passed down my 03-a3 to my son and we took it out to the range, a fire was lit and i was hooked. now it is my main hobby, and an expensive one at that.

 

[stillquietvoice]

Shot for the first time at age 5, I was bitten then. Bought my first rifle, a Springfield savage 22 lr, tube fed mag, semiautomatic, similar to the m 60 Marlin, at 13 withoney I made delivering papers. I sold it to a teenager, with his mom's permission, to use at indoor smallbore competition. Had a great many guns most of my life, except for a 4 yr hiatus due to serious shoulder injury, but was able to get back into shooting and hunting again after finding a rifle, 243 win savage m111, that didn't hurt to pull the trigger on.

 

[Legionnaire]

I've posted this before. I lived in the city growing up. My parents were not into guns; no objection to them, just not in their interests. I shot occasionally as a kid when visiting friends in the country, but it wasn't regular. I shot on my college's rifle team and did well, but the interest lapsed again until years later when I married the daughter of an outdoorsman. My FIL introduced me to hunting and my wife bought me my first firearm, a Mossberg 500 12 gauge combo that I still own and shoot. I was about 30 when my interest in firearms grew beyond my interest in hunting. And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

[Mars5l]

Less than a year ago, age 40. Ive shot randomly a handful of times before then but not without my own guns then

 

[Waveski]

I am 69. I went pheasant hunting a few times as an adolescent , but it didn't "take". About 12-13 years ago , when I was well into my 50's , I got the feeling that I was missing out on something really good and asked my much older brothers if he still had Pa's guns. I soon took ownership of a Marlin 30-30 lever and my Pa's squirrel gun , a "military style" Stevens 87M 22 rifle. What a buzz that gave me!

Man - I sure am glad I got that feeling. I have done a pretty good job of making up for lost time , and have really enjoyed the ride.

 

[grammontS]

I went shooting at times as a kid with my father , but it wasn't something that we did all of the time. I got my LTC license about a year and a half ago , my girlfriends dad sort of talked me into it. I had been target shooting with him for the last few years , but didn't have any guns of my own , I would just throw him some $$$ for the ammo he was letting use. Well , a year and a half into it and now I own 9 firearms and have been reloading for about 8 months probably. Thx to this site and reading the threads on here , I scooped up as many primers and as much powder as I could before things got real bad.

 

[Buckeyefan72]

I had a BB/pellet gun as a kid (still have it). I was not interested in guns but did not object to them. Never fired any guns (beside BB/pellet) until 3-4 years ago (at 45 yrs old) with a guy that was dating a friend of my wife...shot a couple of rifles and his SD handgun. Bought my first gun (SA XDM 9 Compact) two days before taking a CCW class in April 2018. Have since acquired two more handguns (Walther PPSM2 and Canik TP9SF Elite). Always looking to add to the collection. Parents divorced when I was 9. Dad was not interested in guns but had an old shotgun that I never saw. Mom carried a .25auto for protection, but I never saw it. So, I was not exposed to guns (or hunting, etc.) as a kid. My Wife grew-up with a family of hunters, but she did not hunt. So, she is not opposed to them but not interested in them. She supports my desire for guns in house but is "nervous" when I carry. I have made sure to education my kids (boys 12, 11) about guns, etc....especially since they play first person shooter games.

 

[Ru4real]

Started shooting at age 7 as an adult. Although not a lot of free time working barefoot in the paper mill back then. I miss those days!

 

[Harriw]

My story echoes most of the above so I'm really just adding to the count. Growing up hunting/shooting wasn't something my family was into. Not necessarily anti-gun, just wasn't something we did. I started in my late 20's/early 30's, and rapidly tumbled down that slippery slope. Still tumbling with no bottom in sight...

 

[Hangingrock]

Boy Scouts shot rifle .22RF. Center fire rifle (M14) and handgun (1911A1) MCRD Parris Island SC - USMC.

 

[.308 Norma]

I grew up around guns, shooting and hunting. But my wife (of 50 years come June) grew up in southern California, her mom had the worst gun phobia I’ve ever known anyone to have, and apparently her dad preferred keeping the peace with his wife to owning a gun of any kind. Consequently, my wife had never even touched a gun until a week after she married me when she was almost 20 years old.
Nowadays, my wife has as many guns as I do (maybe more), she’s an avid hunter, and she was one of the top “Production Revolver” competitors in the state during our IHMSA days back in the ‘80s. Naturally she carries, and I’ve lost count of how many women have come to her in the last 10 or 12 years asking for advice about that. BTW, 50 years ago when I taught my wife about guns and shooting, neither of us knew husbands aren’t supposed to be able to do that.

 

[BlueHeelerFl]

When I was around 21 or so I got mugged at gunpoint on the NYC subway on my way home. I was living at home at the time with my Mom, and we both decided to gun some handgun training and found a CMP new shooters class at a gun club.

I eventually got the NYC rifle/shotgun permit (which was actually easy to do back in the early 90's).

 

[gunlaw]

I don’t consider myself to be an adult.

 

[jar]

Starting shooting was the big first step towards adulthood; learning that what I did could have very very very serious consequences and that I cannot take anything for granted. Sure, I was at an age where few societies these days would have called me an adult but then in far too many societies today much much much older folk seem to have not taken that step.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

I didn't really shoot until I was 28.

Got hooked.

 

[Meeks36]

My wife was 25 before she shot a real weapon. Shot a few bb guns growing up. Not much. And she is a dang good shot. Didn't take her long to learn. Like 20 shots and she was hitting the bullseye.

 

[potmetal]

I grew up in New Jersey and had no chance to shoot as a kid. I moved away as an adult, finally settling down here in Missouri. I learned to shoot after meeting a man at church who had a part-time gun shop.
I still have never been hunting, but I collect pistols that interest me and get out and do some target shooting whenever I can.

 

[bannockburn]

Just BB guns when I was a kid and then went shooting with some friends from work in my late teens/early 20s. My friend's Dad was a big city cop and he use to frequent all the various gun shops and pawn shops in his district for old but functional rifles and shotguns for hunting. They owned a few acres out in the country and that's where we did all of our shooting and hunting at.

I started off with a Remington Model 572 Fieldmaster pump action .22 and an Ithaca 20 gauge Model 37. Both were well used but their actions were as smooth as silk and I loved shooting them. My first handgun acquisitions were an Astra Model 600, complete with a spare magazine and flap holster (bought from a friend of a friend), and a Webley Mk.IV (found at an outdoor flea market). Later when I decided to get my own guns for hunting I bought a Ruger 10/22 and a Remington Model 870.

 

[Howland937]

I don’t consider myself to be an adult.

You can't be young forever, but you can be immature indefinitely. Or so I'm told.

(Answering for my S.O.)
Mama had never fired a gun of any kind...not even a bb gun. She was very uncomfortable with the thought of me having them in the house. Eventually decided to try to understand, and agreed to go shooting with me. After some very serious safety discussion and practice, followed by actual shooting, she now claims the P238 as her own. She also makes sure to remind me when she thinks I need to load more ammo for her.

 

[gunlaw]

Not immature.young at heart.

 

[.308 Norma]

Not immature.young at heart.

Uh, huh! That's what I tell my wife every time she tells me, "GROW UP!"

 

[Legionnaire]

I don’t consider myself to be an adult.

Seen on a t-shirt:

Growing old is mandatory.
Growing up is optional.