How'd you get "into guns"?

[Professor Gun]

I grew up in a suburb of a large antigun city with an antigun family. My first exposure was at age 12 when we went back to the hills to visit family and my Grandpa took me outside to shoot cans with a .22 rifle. When I married at age 20 (yes, we are still married 33 years later), my young wife and I lived in an area where there were a lot of thugs so I purchased a single shot 12 gauge (all I could afford) because I thought it was my responsibility to protect my wife and myself.

A few years later when I was in grad school we lived in a really high crime area in another large city, I was gone a lot, and purchased my first handgun (a Ruger .357 Mag revolver), then a pump 12 gauge Mossberg so my wife and I could protect ourselves.

Then I tried some shooting competitions, got into hunting, and everything ballooned from there.

Fortunately my wife has gone along with this obsession of mine. She is not as involved in it as I am, but she enjoys going out to shoot, recently got her CHL, for our 32nd anniversary I bought her a Glock 26 which she really likes. She has also confiscated several guns I bought for my use, I finally got her an AR-15 last year so we didn't have to take turns at the range.

Our two teen sons are avid shooters and hunters so this has become a family activity over the years because they started going to the range with me and hunting with me at age 5. They are my favorite hunting and shooting buddies.

 

[Stump Water]

Mom was anti.

Dad wasn't, but he wasn't "into" guns. He grew up on a farm where a gun was a tool and his military service didn't involve guns (Electrician's Mate on an Aircraft Carrier during the Korean conflict). So the drive was never there for Dad to introduce/teach us about guns and I imagine he simply avoided the matter so he wouldn't have to hear it from mom. Today, Dad likes to see/handle our guns and he likes to talk about them, and he's even come to observe the Lady and I at a few matches. But he doesn't care about shooting them. They're still just a tool for him.

My uncles taught me how to shoot/hunt and the ins/outs of guns... mostly hunting rifles/shotguns. I read a lot. I listened a lot. The day I turned 18 I bought my first... a Glenfield (Marlin) model 60 .22 semi-auto rifle. I literally wore out the action in that rifle and had to replace it.

A couple more guns came and went through college. Graduated... got a job... got disposable income... started accumulating more guns. Then started reloading to support my Saturday ammo habit... and get the accuracy I desired.

20+ years later and I've not seen it slow down.

 

[10-Ring]

Friends from school growing up & lots of westerns!

 

[doubleg]

I was born into a fairly anti-gun household, my grandfather was who introduced me to guns and hunting.

While I was growing up I always had toy guns

At about 10 years old I talked my older cousin into buying me a pellet rifle, I gave him the money of course. (I had to keep it hidden, mom would never have let me have one. I'm a sneaky little sh*t.)

After about a year later my pap let me shoot a single barreled shotgun out in the country at my uncles house. I've been hooked ever since.

When I was about 15 years old I saw a kimber 1911 ad in the back of an NRA magazine and HAD TO HAVE ONE. I saved, stole, and weaseled my way to about 660 dollars. Mom did buy it for me but only on her conditions. (keep it locked up in my pap's safe )

Now several guns and years later I have joined the US Army and will be leaving for boot camp in June, lets see where the story goes from here.

 

[monadh]

I'm a Southerner, born in north Georgia. It was expected of all males to have proficiency with guns, starting with toy dart guns, moving to BB and pellet guns, and then on to your "Southern Bar Mitzvah" when you got your first real gun. When someone would make the comment "He can't hit the broad side of a barn with that gun", it was a black mark on that guy's character. Big city men from, say, Atlanta, who could not or did not shoot were considered sissies, when even the women where I'm from could shoot a penny from a good distance away. Old time mountain Southern culture was very much pro-gun, even though the term was never used or considered. Firearms expertise and woods skills were just a part of life as much as anything else we did.

It didn't matter the action, the caliber, or whether it was a rifle, shotgun, revolver, or pistol, you were expected to be good. My father was the best. He would use a .22 to hunt rabbits, and I once saw him drop a running rabbit at about 75 yards with a single shot .22. He once killed 2 bucks that came up behind him with a bolt action .243. Two rapid shots, 2 bucks. My father was scary good, and his extended absences working for Uncle Sam have always had me wondering.

I practiced a lot because I did not want to lag behind. I eventually joined the Army National Guard, made Governor's 20 whenever I competed, and always qualified expert with whatever weapon I shot.

This heritage I received from my elders I am passing on to my children: The right to self defense and the obligation to use it when it is necessary, as a free people should.

 

[possum]

my dad got me hooked on guns but i have kinda evolved and taken it to a whole other level, he was he old school wheel gun and 1911 guy and that was it. hated glock hated "assault rifles" hated 9mm, but i changed all that, and now i am acctually got him wanting to attend some trainnig courses.

 

[BIGR]

At 2 months of age they handed me a .38 pistol........just kidding. Actually I grew up in a real rural, mountainous area that had a reputation of being rough, inhabited by moonshiners, outlaws and bootleggers. It was common practice for most men to carry a .38 in their overalls or back pocket. My family over the years believed in hunting and self protection. My grandfather passed down those traits to his sons and grandchildren. I started hunting at a young age and have always been facinated by guns. The rest is history. A Country Boy Can Survive...

 

[stevereno1]

Dear old Dad! Gave me my first gun when I was 11. A break action remington .410. He let me shoot his Colt Trooper .357 When I was 12, and that was it! I've been hooked ever since!

 

[30-06 lover]

My father is a hunter and always brought me and my family out with him. I loved hunting, and we hunted with guns mostly so I became interested in them when it was time for my own. Got one and was addicted ever since I studied them.

 

[Hk91-762mm]

I grew up in a gun friendly home -dad and uncle hunted and I always had shooting oppertunitys .
I owned a few hunting guns and Inherited gramps guns -BUT what really did it was -NY Gov.Mario Cuomo-We must Ban these killing machines [a friend had an HK-91 and I loved it] So after a antigun speach by Mario I headed to the gun shop and Bought an AR-15 Just after they started cutting off the Bayo lugg. Next My state trooper neighbor with an FFl got me an AK-47 norinco.
Soon I had to have an FFL and The diesease got me hooked.. Now I collect Evil Black rifles of every make from AK-to-UZI .Last count over a hundred and still collecting anything that goes BANG.
I remember showing Dad my first Tec-9 he said'"" You must have had a rock fall on your head """ Awwww Dad I still like brownings !

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I had a cool Brother-in-law that let me shoot his Mossberg .22 when I was 11 years old. Until then it was the usual cowboys and indians, foot soldier, cap guns, etc. Some of the toys I had were extremely cool.

 

[RoxboroRedneck]

Got into it through my dad. Started shooting targets, then moved to shooting clays. He likes shooting shotguns, but when i hit 18 i enjoyed rifles more and bought my first rifle. Then he transitioned with me to rifles...I have never looked back

 

[Mojo-jo-jo]

I had a college roommate that was a certified gun nut. Prior to that, I wasn't really "into" guns, and didn't have any, but was pro-gun philosophically. After going to the range with my roommate, I went and bought an SKS.

Several more came later...

 

[Nolo]

I was designing an airship for a comic series that my friend was making. I looked at guns to have stowed on board. SMLEs, Thompsons, 1911s and such. I checked all the ammunition levels. When I was finished, I was completely absorbed. Guns became a symbol of freedom for me. They were the mark of a man unrestrained by other men.
That's how I got into guns.
I designed my first rifle shortly afterward. A .50 BMG long rifle, semiautomatic.

 

[SSN Vet]

no certain event, person or story, but I'm pretty sure the following all played a part...

1.) G.I. Joe (you know, the 12" toy with the kung-foo grip)
2.) Sgt. Rock cartoons
3.) Pre-school teacher 'Papa Bill' who's solution to "high energy boys" was to nail a 6" piece of garden hose to a little block of scrap wood and send them out to the play ground.
4.) Dad buying me my first scale models (a Spitfire and a Fochwolf 190), which fueled a fascination with WWII history.
5.) Dad getting me a Daisy BB gun for Christmas....and all the trouble I got into with it.
6.) Friend in the neigborhood who shot trap competitively, and who's Dad invited me to attend the hunter's safety class.
7.) Dad buying me a break action 20 ga. shotgun for Christmas
8.) Becoming an engineering geek
9.) 8+ years active duty military service and a great dissatisfaction with the Navy's investment into my proficiency with small arms.
10.) Reading the paper, having a family of my own, and loving them to much to do nothing but leaving it to chance for them to become statistics.

Funny thing is that Dad was a far cry from a gun nut and though he used to hunt, I don't think he really enjoyed it.

So who's to blame for the addiction/obsession ?

THR and all of you crazies out there.

 

[arsuf]

My father was into guns, collected and hunted, so basically started at birth. Started shooting before I was even 10, don't remember my exact age.

 

[Jeffreii]

Both my parents were anti-gun and any bb gun i ever obtained was thrown out. My neighbor always shot at me with his bb gun so that probably made me want to get one i suppose (born on a several acre ranch). There were pesty ginnie hens I always wanted to shoot too, along with lots of house cats. I am not sure why I got into them so much, I just really like them, like what I can do with them, and like what they can do to others. Also liked the concept of hunting and also liked having some sort of security from wild animals (I camp in mountains and deserts down primitive roads) and also since there are so many thugs and evil hearted people out there. All the articles that anti-gunners read and feel guns should be taken away from people because of, I read the opposite...more of a reason I should have one. But a lot of it is just because I love guns and love shooting them. If society was completely evil-free and like "heaven" I suppose, I would still want one and still like shooting them. In that scenario, there really would be no reason why even an anti-gunner could come up with a reason as to why not to have them. I suppose some of why is also because of the "power" and all, establishing yourself on the food chain, but that is far down on the list as to why I like/want them (opposite of what my dad thinks, he claims guns are only for those who are trying to be macho and all)

 

[General Geoff]

My uncle, pure and simple. When I was 14, he took me out to a range, bringing along an Armalite AR-7, an M1 Garand, and a Springfield M1A.


My mom, being rather against guns (up until recently, anyway), forbade me having a gun, but she relented when I turned 19 and bought my first gun, an M44 Mosin Nagant. I bought the house when they moved to NC, and have been acquiring more and more guns since. I'm 23 now.

 

[cbsbyte]

Pretty simple story. I Did not grow up around firearms since my family is strict anti-gun, none of them where hunters. Even to this day. Don't know one person in my extended family that owns one. Fired my first firearm at summer camp when I was twelve. Still have some of the targets in my desk. Never touched another firearm until college. By that time I was a very strict anti-gun person, hated them to the core. A few of my friends where hunters, though not real supportive of the RKBA. They took me out shooting several times at a local gun club, I had a blast. Though it took me some time to finaly presuade myself from all the anti gun drivel I had been fed from birth. It was a slow process. One day I decided to take up shooting for fun. I bought my first rifle a Yugo Mauser for target shooting. That started my interest in Milsurplus firearms. And the rest is history.

 

[jrfoxx]

Probly first got interested by looking through my dad's copies of American Rifleman that were always laying on the coffee table when I was growing up (he was a life member since before I was born).Then got a bb/pellet gun at about 6 or 7, went hunting and skeet and trap shooting with my dad starting around 13 (minimun age in MI at the time to take hunter's safety and get a license), starting shooting indoor .22 rifle competion in NRA matches at the local gun club at about 14, and when I turned 18, bought my first gun, a Ruger Blackhawk .357 mag. its been close to 20 years, and LOTS of guns bought since then....

 

[Cannonball888]

How'd you get into guns?

We are all small enough