How old were you when you got your first gun?

[Zaydok Allen]

So there have been a number of stories in the news lately about kids shooting and wounding or killing someone by accident. Many of them have ended in fatalities. All of these stories are tragic to say the least. Are there more accidents happening lately, or is it just that the media is publishing more stories about it because gun control is a hot topic right now? I don't know the answer, and it isn't the point of the thread.

I'm sure there is another thread out there about this, but I thought a new poll was in order as membership has undoubtedly increased, newer shooters come into the High Road, and others move on.

So, go ahead and post what your first gun was if you want, though that has been done a hundred times. I'm more interested in ages.

How old were you when you aquired your first firearm? For the sake of keeping this simple, lets say cartridge firearms, NOT flintlocks or other antiquated firearms. We will just go with firearms capable of firing self contained cartridges with a bullet, casing, powder, and primer, whether they be rimfire or centerfire.

I started late as I do not come from a gun friendly family, area, nor was hunting a family tradition. I have since turnned my father and sold him his one and only handgun.

I was 26 years old when I got my first. It was a DPMS AR15. Panther Bull Special 24"

This is NOT ment to be a thread to debate the merits or appropriate age for a person to get their first gun, so if you want to debate that, please start your own thread somewhere else. This question interests me and I don't want this thread shut down because of bickering or fighting. I just want numbers please, not opinions.

 

[Vette]

Dad bought me a savage single shot 22 when i was 10. still shooting it 58 years later.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I was 5, but it wasn't "Here's a gun kid. Have fun."
It was an old single shot 16 gauge that was passed down. I'm the 3rd Paul to have it. I was 9 or 10 the first time I shot it.
The first one I got to really hunt with was a single barrel .410 when I was 7 years old.

My daughter got a pink .22 Cricket for her 6th birthday. It goes without saying that it stays in the cabinet with mine and doesn't come out without me there.

I saw an article on the MSN home page this morning about a 5 year old shooting and killing his 2 year old sibling. I don't know if that's the incident that prompted this thread from you, but it's just crazy and tragic. Parents have to be held accountable in these instances I think. Kids will be kids and while I understand teaching them about firearms, there still has to be some common sense involved.

 

[peacemaker45]

Eight or nine? I remember the event very clearly, as my dad and grandpa introduced me to my new Stevens single shot .410 by taking me out to blast away at the cliff near grandpa's house to make some noise for New Years Eve. I'm just fuzzy on which year that would be.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ngnrd]

Owned my own, or had relatively free access to one?

I bought my first firearm in my early 20's, was given a firearm at ... 15-ish, and could borrow a 22 rifle basically anytime from my dad for plinking, or for rabbit and squirrel hunting alone at ... 11-ish. I also got a Crosman 760 pump BB/pellet gun when I was 9.

 

[Ryanxia]

I shot well before I got my own but I got my first one at 11 or 12, a single shot 20ga. Then I got my first handgun (.22 revolver) at 14. It wasn't until my twenties that I got the bug and started getting some real toys

 

[rondog]

I'm not sure, that was a long time ago, but I'm gonna say 10. My oldest brother handed down his old Remington 514 single shot .22 rifle to me for Christmas one year.

I'd opened all my presents when he said there was one more, and pointed to a tiny box up in the tree branches. I opened it, and it was a box of .22 shells. I was confused, and asked what they were for, and he said "they go with this", and pulled the rifle out of the closet!

I'm 57 now, and still have that rifle. And it's still as accurate as it was then. I'm seriously considering a total refinish of the metal and wood, it's showing its age. I have no idea how old it actually is.

 

[morcey2]

Winchester 120 Ranger 12 gauge from my dad for my 14th birthday.

 

[Spartacus]

Winchester 1400 12 gauge from my Pop for my 13th birthday.

 

[taliv]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/girl-2-shot-dead-brother-5-article-1.1331893

The county coroner has ruled the death ‘just one of those crazy accidents.’

I beg to differ. "criminal negligence" sounds like a more appropriate description.

I was probably 8-9ish when I got my first gun. I don't remember. I had my own reloading stuff in 4th grade.

My daughter got a cricket when she was 5. But I don't think she fired it for probably 6 months. Just walked around the house with it practicing handling it safely for a long time. and she didn't shoot unsupervised until she was like 12 or so.

 

[forindooruseonly]

My dad gave me a Chipmunk when I was five, I shot a lot with supervision from that point on, until I was 9 or 10 and allowed to wander the farm with a Browning BL-22 by myself. How I miss those days!

 

[Hanzo581]

I was taken shooting plenty of times starting at 12, but my first gun is one I bought myself when I turned 21. A Walther P22.

 

[Dr. Sandman]

Is this poll about guns that you personally own/bought? Or is this about what age that you started shooting? Do family guns count? What about the fact that you have to be at least a certain age in certain places to own a gun? I think that most people (including myself) will not understand the question that is being asked. I would encourage the OP to address this.
Dr. Sandman

 

[Chevelle SS]

Didn't have my "own" until 13, but I have been shooting since I was 6. First gun was a high Standard Duramatic.

 

[herrwalther]

I didn't grow up around firearms so I regrettably did not own my first one until I bought it on my 21st birthday.

 

[waterhouse]

My daughter got a cricket when she was 5. But I don't think she fired it for probably 6 months. Just walked around the house with it practicing handling it safely for a long time. and she didn't shoot unsupervised until she was like 12 or so.

That mirrors my experience. It was a single shot Marlin at age 5, I had the rifle for a few months before I was given the bolt.

 

[Droid noob]

My family didn't have guns growing up. I didn't take an interest until I shot my buddies xd 45. I turned around and purchased my first gun at 28 years young. It was an xd 40.

 

[Bobson]

Dad bought me my first actual firearm, a 12 gauge shotgun, at 12 years old. I had been shooting BB guns for five years at the time. My brother received a Mosin Nagant at the same time I got the shotgun (he was ten). Dad told us to pick what we wanted, because he felt we were ready.

I still have the shotgun, and use it frequently.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

How old were you when you aquired your first firearm?

I mean ownership, whether legally or simply implied within your family doesn't matter. I believe while a gun may not legally be yours, among your family a gun is considered yours when it is presented to you as your property or a gift. It does not necesarily mean that a young child would be unsupervised though.

Let's put it this way. If the adult in the home was showing their guns to a friend, and that friend asked "Who's gun is that?" and the response would be "That's my kid's/step kid's gun." regardless of age, let's say it is yours and you own it.

I am not asking how old you were when you started shooting. Many people start at a very young age.

I beg to differ. "criminal negligence" sounds like a more appropriate description.

taliv, I agree with you. I persoanlly believe that MOST if not all of the incidences of children shooting someone either on purpose, or by accident, could have, and should have been avoided by the pressence of adult/parent/what have you supervision, and should never happen. That is JMO though. I don't see how a child weilding a firearm unsupervised should ever happen. At what age is a kid capable of operating one unsupervised? That's a topic for another thread.

 

[Bobson]

Is this poll about guns that you personally bought? Or is this about what age that you started shooting? What about the fact that you have to be at least a certain age in certain places to own a gun?

Neither. Its about the age at which you got your first gun. If that first gun was bought by you at age 50, fine. If it was gifted to you at age 5, that's fine too.

I don't know of any state that prohibits the gifting of a firearm to a minor by the minor's legal parent/guardian, regardless of the age of the minor.

 

[Stargazer65]

I'm guessing I'm one of the few here that didn't grow up with guns in the house. I was 43 when I bought my first, although I used them in the military. Not so for my kids though. My oldest got his first .22 at 14, a Savage Mark 2. My second got his at 12, a Henry lever .22. My oldest daughter got a Crickett .22 at 10. My youngest son got his Crickett .22 at seven years old. My 5 year old daughter will get the older girls Crickett soon, and the older will get another .22 that she will pick out. All the guns get locked up in the safe, they come out when we take a range trip only.

 

[silicosys4]

I had a BB gun at 8, and was learning the fundamentals of gun handling safety. I was given my first firearm for my Bday at 10, a 20 gauge shotgun, but was not able to use it alone until 14 or so. I received my first rifle, a 30-06, at age 13 or so and was hunting alone the next year, age 14.

I still remember vividly the first day I was allowed to take a firearm out of the house unsupervised, it was a .22lr and it was my grandfathers ranch.

 

[Walkalong]

Started shooting at 7 or 8, owned my own at 17.

 

[bigdaa]

16.

1972

Browning 22 takedown, Belgian.

 

[EmbarkChief]

First real gun (not BB) was my .410 Bolt action Mossberg that was handed down from my father at the age of 10 on my Birthday. My first "new" firearm was my Browning SA-22 when I turned 14. First pistol was a BHP from a dear family friend who passed when I was 26. Of course I still have all of these and shoot them regularly.