My Grandfather who had been in the Navy during WWII always had WWII history books around the house and liked to discuss the War on the strategic scale. I was not really introduced to guns at that young age, 8 or 9, but started to realize what the world was really about and of the great evil that inhabits it.
Our grade school had a reading hour, where we'd choose a book on an American historical figures and read about them. I read about John Paul Jones, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Decatur and other notable Americans and started to realize what it took to be a great American and of the contributions they made to our history.
I believe all this learning and information about my country and the role it played in the world led to my interest in firearms which took fruition at about 11 or 12. My step-father was a small business owner and had no interest in guns until I bought the bb guns, same with my mother, then they became aware of them because of me. I could not wait to get my first real firearm, which was a 4" stainless steel Ruger GP100 in .357 at about 20yo in Virginia Beach, VA.
I am of the belief that though humans are part of the animal kingdom, we are rather fragile compared to most animals which are born with their defensive attributes such as claws, fangs, talons, beaks, great hearing, great smell, winter coats and such. We, however, are left with our intelligence which led to the most effective defensive device of all time, the firearm.
As animals are born with their weapons, we've had to create ours and it is the gun. I have no regrets having one at all times and have no desire to use it unless the situation requires it. But to be denied it's possession is to be "declawed/defanged" and that I will not tolerate, we become caged animals (slaves) at that point.
