What, if any, type of media helped you first gain your interest in firearms?

[greenr18]

What, if any, type of media helped you first gain your interest in firearms? Or strengthen it I might say. When I was really little I used to look through the pictures in my dad's gun digests and as I got older tv and movies helped but one of the more interesting forms I can think of off the top of my head were a short lived special edition series of The Punisher comics detailing the guns and equipment he used, looking at them today I've actually come upon some interesting guns from the 80s and early nineties that you don't hear much about, like the D-Max submachine guns and Goncz pistols.

 

[CoRoMo]

I can't say that any media enhanced my interest.
It was all the experience with my family's firearms, hunting, etc.
Now that I'm older, the freedom aspect is one of the most important things to me now.

 

[grimjaw]

I didn't take an active interest in firearms until (and I'm almost afraid to admit this) I played Counterstrike Source. Now keep in mind, I learned to shoot a rifle (and shoot fairly well) in my early teens. I just didn't have any guns of my own nor study them until after playing that game.

The game was supposedly realistic, using models of real weapons. It was the drive to discover how much of that was true that got me interested in the topic. It snowballed from there.

jm

 

[Freezebyte]

Probably my best friend who bought a S&W .40 handgun and took me to the range few times is what got my interest in guns really perked recently and because I wanted to go shooting with him other then my dwinky .22LR rifle.

Now he's got martial/mental/alcohol problems and sold the gun and i'm by myself on the range.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Probably my interest in military history began my interest in firearms, which increased when I began shooting in the Scouts and reading some books about guns, hunting and survival. In college I started reading gun magazines and became interested in self-defense, and in the following years I obtained several guns for self defense. I didn't become a Certified Gun Nut until I was thirty (mid-life crisis?) and started hitting the gun stores and shows, accumulating a pretty big hoard until I narrowed my interests and traded down.

 

[Rush]

I was never into guns until about 10 years ago when some anti-gun nut was ranting about it on a forum. So I said, "I'm going to buy a gun just to exercise my 2nd amendment right." Use it or lose it; something like that. To help me decide what to buy and get a general education on the subject I bought a copy of "Black Man With A Gun" by Kenneth Blanchard.

 

[Boba Fett]

Probably the G.I. Joe comic books and action figures in the late 1980's through 1990's.

That and the fact that my family has always had firearms on both sides.

 

[chuckusaret]

What, if any, type of media helped you first gain your interest in firearms?

My father got me started hunting wild boar when I was 10 or so. I used a cannon, 10 gauge shotgun, my older brother still uses it. Hey, this was back in the day when there no restrictions on hunters in Mississippi.

I no longer read the daily newspaper, too biased.

 

[Sato Ord]

Unless it was watching the Cisco Kid and Roy Rogers on Saturday mornings I don't think the media had much to do with it.

I was raised on a farm and I've been shooting since I was about four. My father and brothers were all avid shooters, and after we moved ot the burbs we still went shooting at least every other weekend from early spring until late fall.

 

[-v-]

It all started with the Half-Life MOD aptly named "Firearms" which is in the same vein as Counterstrike, except I dare say more realistic and focusing on a combat/military setting rather then a counter-terrorism/swat setting. Selection menu had a nice (and accurate!) description of each weapon, from a Beretta M9 to the G3 "Volmer" machine-gun-thing (MP5 in .308 with a 50 round belt anyone?!) to the famed FAMAS "railgun", to an M60 and even a Saiga-12k. Also, unlike CS you actually had to think of your loadout, since your weight was restricted. Wanted to tote a M60? Well, gotta give up on armor protection and forget a sidearm. Want to walk around in a full suit of Level IV armor? Well have fun with only being able to carry an MP5, and so forth.

 

[fishingjld]

i was influenced by different gun magazines, and one friend especially. also my father in law who got me into shooting to begin with. i was a late bloomer to be honest. i only shot one gun up until i was 19. but from there it just took off. i plan on getting my 3 yr old son into shooting much earlier so he can enjoy much longer than i have. god bless

 

[RP88]

videogames and movies. Then, I became even more interested as I took more history in school.

 

[HeavenlySword]

The Internet. Not sure what exactly.

Freeze, sorry to hear about your friend

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Movies, particularly Westerns and vigilante justice flicks...

Clint Eastwood

Chuck Norris

Chuck Bronson

John Wayne

and etc.

TV Shows.

Gunsmoke, Wild Wild West, Lone Ranger, Starsky & Hutch....

and etc., and etc.

 

[22-rimfire]

My childhood foundation in hunting began my interest in firearms. Endless discussions with my brothers about which gun is best and so forth added to it. Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, Sports Afield, Fur Fish & Game certainly did not hinder my interest.

 

[ReadyontheRight]

I was always interested in guns and shooting because of my Dad and brother.

I kind of sat through the first AWB because I was young and I didn't understand that I really did have political power. Oh, I argued with friends about how stupid an Assault Weapon Ban was, I have hunted with more powerful weapons since I was 14 years old, but I never had an understanding that it was MY job to defend RKBA.

I gained an appreciate for the importance of RKBA from two events in my life:

1. Having children.
2. Seeing "The Story of the Gun" on The History Channel. It was a week-long, 2+ hour per night documentary that really hit it home as to why the gun is so important to why we are free citizens rather than subjects.

From hand cannons to assault rifles, this is a thrilling tour through mankind's explosive history, a look at inventors from Colt to Kalashnikov and their revolutionary creations.

Several hundred years ago, an unknown inventor combined charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter and lit it afire. When the dust settled the world was changed forever.

From the creation of gunpowder to today's high-tech assault rifles, the gun has changed human life like few other inventions. In this fascinating account, THE STORY OF THE GUN travels through the centuries to examine the remarkable innovations that made modern firearms possible. Meet the gunsmiths and entrepreneurs whose names became legend, including Gatling, Colt, Remington, Winchester, Thompson, Browning, Maxim and Kalashnikov. Go west with frontiersman, ride with lawmen and outlaws and march with soldiers into battle. You'll even get a privileged look at where advanced weapons technology is headed today.

THE STORY OF THE GUN is a comprehensive look at one of mankind's most pivotal inventions.

As far as I know, "History" (as The History Channel is now called), has never repeated this series since I saw it in about 1998. They have used snippets in "Tales of the Gun" and other shows.

Now that "History" has discovered reality TV and become "The Sexual History of Ice Road Trucking Lumberjack Gangs From Outer Space Channel", I doubt if they will ever show this great series again.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

For me it was Star Wars. I got my first REAL light saber about a year after the movie came out, then my interest turned more towards the laser pistols the stormtroopers carried. I bought one at a gun show really cheap(used surplus) and haven't looked back since. Currently, I'm retrofitting my landcruiser with hyperdrive units and laser cannons.........does anyone know where I can get a good deal on a used R2 unit?.......

Seriously though, I can't link my interest to any sort of media.

 

[Ringer]

 

[sturmgewehr667]

does anyone know where I can get a good deal on a used R2 unit?

those things are all over gunbroker, mostly sporterized

 

[crazy-mp]

Really was not a media outlet, I had/still have this handy dandy unit that is a range finder, GPS unit, fish finder, buck scrape identifier, mechanic and gun price guide all rolled into one, its called...........























DAD

 

[walker944]

My dad was a big Gun Smoke TV show and John Wayne movie fan. That pretty much got me moving down this path. Then all the cop shows of the 70s pretty much sealed my fate.

 

[Prince Yamato]

I used to watch the A-Team when I was between 3 and 7 years old. I grew up assuming everyone could own a machine gun and that lots of people did, just not my family. I remember sitting in a chair of my barber's office and he had a bunch of NRA mags ~1989. I opened one up, saw an AR-15 and asked for one for Christmas. I never got any real guns from my parents.

I'd just like to point out that every time the antis say that Assault Weapons are for "marginal types," I always think to myself, "Hey, Faceman shot EBRs and he wasn't a marginal type! Heck, he drove a cool Corvette and all the ladies liked him!"

 

[Deanimator]

"The Man from U.N.C.L.E."

I had absolutely zero interest in firearms until my then militantly anti-gun (Now she's just anti-gun) mother pointed out one of the "U.N.C.L.E. Specials" to me. 40+ years, dozens of guns and a Concealed Handgun License later, I'll bet she's still regretting that...

 

[techmike]

Dear old Dad would be interested to hear he is a Media.

 

[hankdatank1362]

Always had interest in firearms, thanks to Dad.

Never had much interest in owning them untilI became a husband and a father, and Oleg's pictures helped me to realize I was responsible for their protection.