When did you become interested in guns?

[GEM]

It is in the article in my sig - Academic shooter - if you want to read my ramblings.

 

[skers69]

Both Grandparents served in ww2/Korea. Moms father was a great outdoors person. He taught me to fish, hunt, and shoot growing up. I would have to know how to tear down a gun, clean it, put it back together, and explain the proper rules of handling a gun before I could ever actually shoot the weapon.

My son is two. I watch hunting and shooting shows with him on tv. I can not wait to pass my knowledge of the outdoors to him.

 

[keano44]

I have always been interested in guns since I was a boy; hunting guns, since I loved to hunt. I also knew I wanted handguns after I became a teenager, since an older cousin of mine, whom I respected and admired very much was into handguns and I thought he was cool. But I was never into assault/military type weapons until Bill Clinton became president. That's when I was made aware that I was a right wing radical instead of the normal, average, conservative American that I thought I was, and that I should not be allowed to own those type of weapons. I got more interested in RKBA issues, joined the NRA and began supporting other RKBA groups, and have since added to my then small gun collection a Russian SKS, AR15, M1 Garand, 1911A1, K98, and 2 Makarovs, among other hunting rifles, shotguns, single shot handguns, and revolvers. I shoot more, and reload all my own hunting and some plinking ammo. Thank You Bill Clinton for waking me up!

 

[WIFF]

I became interested when i left England and became a U.S. resident, a Country that still allows law abiding citizens to own and carry guns.
Long may it continue...

 

[farlander]

I was six. My grandfather bought me a Browning .22 and we rode back from wherever we picked it up from with me me holding it barrel out the window pointing up the whole way home (Texas panhandle, mid 80's). He set up a target and showed me how to hold the rifle. He told me to shoot it with my middle finger (still don't know why). When I squeezed the trigger the slide pinched my index finger when it went it hit it's aft travel. It hurt but MAN WAS THAT SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!

I know that guns have always been in my house. When I was about 5 (before the libs got hold of the toy guns) I had a pistol that looked to my memory like a 1911. My parents were in the process of having a house built and my mom carried her BDA 380 when she went to the site to deal with snakes (she actually shot one). I had lost my favorite pistol and one evening she had her purse sitting on the kitchen table with the butt of the BDA sticking out of it. I saw it and thought she had found my gun so I pulled it from her purse saying "You found my gun!!" I can still remember the looks on my parents face. Shock and impending horror. When I realized that it was way to heavy to be my hollow plastic mock-up I set it on the table and said "This isn't mine." The gun was quickly removed from the table by my dad without any comment.

I think I got to shoot the BDA the next summer when my mom came to get my sister and I from our two week vacation at the grandparents house.

MAN I LIKE GUNS!!!

 

[shotgunkevin]

I guess it was in middle school. My best friend and I started trading gun magazines back and forth (mostly he traded forth and I wouldn't trade back.) Then I discovered the joys of snooping in my parents bedroom and found, amongst other, never-to-be-mentioned things, my Dad's Star .22 pistol. It was the only gun in the house growing up, and Mom hated it.
My Uncle and Grandfather took me shooting my first time when I was a senior in high school out on some little patch of ground that was certainly not a sanctioned shooting range, but everybody went there. We shot a variety of pistols, but I don't remember any rifles, though I could have forgotten.

To this day, I've never been able to get my Dad to go shooting with me. I'd trade my Mossberg for one afternoon. (yes, the "shotgun" in shotgunkevin.)

 

[Froggy]

When did you become interested in guns?

A long, long time ago.

 

[hueytaxi]

I grew up in North Fl and we all had firearms available and were trained in their use and the respect for the dangers. Never owned my own until my 2nd tour of Viet Nam, when I bought a python to carry over there. Working near a South Vietnamese base, I traded for a lot of old GI weapons and at times carried a M-2 selective fire carbine with the stock cut off (to fire out the door of my helicopter as a solo pilot); an M-3 Grease Gun (too much recoil for single hand fire), a 7.62 pistol cartridge SMG fully automatic with a side mounted mag and perforated barrel shroud. Loved full auto. The M-2 with it's cut down barrel would belch fire about 3' and sound like a canon. Definitely suppressed fire when used carefully. Came back after service and had to be a little careful with firearms after pulling one out in a threatening situation. Kept away from them until the Green belt Snipers gained attention and decided to get back into ownership while I could.

 

[possum]

i am proud to say that i had a very squared away father, and have been raised around weapons my whole life, and since the fist time i went to the range with him, i couldn't ge enough. i love it, and it has been a great hobby ever since, it cost some big money sometimes, but what hobby dose'nt? like i say go hard or go home! and i put everything i have into my collection, and trainning.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

I got a Crosman 760 when I was 4 and my dad cut the stock down for me. I drug it for miles along the river by my house. Most of my pants had a worn outline of a toy metal copy of a colt 1908. Nickel. I don't have think I have ever NOT been interested in firearms.

 

[SamTuckerMTNMAN]

to KEANO44

But I was never into assault/military type weapons until Bill Clinton became president. That's when I was made aware that I was a right wing radical instead of the normal, average, conservative American that I thought I was, and that I should not be allowed to own those type of weapons.

yeah bro...I hear that

st

 

[jlbraun]

Right after my sister was robbed at gunpoint, then pistolwhipped "just for kicks" after they already had her car and purse.

 

[Speer]

My interest in guns was sparked by the LA riots, but it was only an interest. It never materialized, and I lost interest. Then the combination of a friend suffering from a home invasion, and the meltdown of New Orleans, convinced me it was time to do the right thing.

I became interested when i left England and became a U.S. resident, a Country that still allows law abiding citizens to own and carry guns. Long may it continue...

Yes. Very long. May we never become the defenseless victims of the UK.

 

[SSN Vet]

don't tell anybody.....

but I started sneeking out my older brother's B-B gun when I was about 8.

I know....not the most responsible way to get started.

Dad bought me my own B-B gun at about 10.

and after much begging and completion of a hunters safety class, Dad got me a break action 20 ga.

Being a WWII history nut helped a lot too.

 

[skers69]

Froggy. Great pic. Now I got to go see if I have any from the old days.

 

[JHG]

Birth

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Gawd, Memory Lane

Always interested. Cap guns. Squirt guns (shoot flies off the wall). Pop guns. A soft vinyl gun that fired ping-pong balls (wow, forgot about that for 45 years).

First bb/pellet pistol for 12th b'day. Lost in the fire that took the house.

Bought a Sheirdan 5mm pump air rifle at 16 with burger-flippin' money. Bought a Crosman single shot .22 pump air pistol. Bought a Benjamin .177 air rifle for younger brother. Archery in our own yard (small place, less than 2 acres).

Air Force, Basic Training, M16, two trips to the range: one "practice" and the other to qualify. Shot 60/60 for expert. No way that was possible without lots of prior experience with the Sheridan. Qualified again 2 years later. Doubts about using "Air Force" and "Military" in the same sentence.

June, 1972: DD214. Home for 4 months. Volunteered for a group doing educational and rehab work overseas. Ten years goes by.

Return Stateside. Too busy raising daughter (single dad) to worry about anything but stayin' alive. Married again. Two more kids. Friends have guns. Makes me a little nervous. Some hunt. Less nervous around them. Some just have hardware in closet. More nervous around them.

Meet new (dentist) friend. Has 9mm for self defense. Explains to me that out in the world, you're on your own. Years later, his wife (another dentist, who won't touch a gun) is shot and killed as she's leaving office late at night.

He adds security stuff to office, gets another 9mm, keeps at office, insists office staff train.

With each event, the mental light bulb glows a little brighter. Now, I actually want to know more, just feel stupid asking. Nobody my age should know NOTHING about firearms. Hate feeling dumb.

Eventually move from Southern Nevada to Western Nevada and find a community of people for whom RKBA is routine. Finally! Start visiting shops, asking dumb questions.

Two years ago: at last. Wife gets me a Ruger 10/22 anniversary edition for Father's Day. A year later, another 10/22 (22-inch stainless, Wally World exclusive).

More visits to shops. Lots more dumb questions. Friendly shop owners take time to teach and show.

Begin to study and research. Read up on events, such as North Hollywood bank shootout, LA "Rodney King" riots, and so on. Review Constitution and supporting papers. Much reading of reviews (Chuck Hawks, GunBlast and others).

Finally, with some confidence, I begin to buy the basics for home and personal defense, hunting, varmints, target shooting.

It's been a long road. The INTEREST has always been there. The UNDERSTANDING was very slow in coming, partly because of career and distractions, partly because of intensive information denial. And finally, the WILL arrived, born of enlightenment and a little vision.

Now, I selectively promote. I educate. I encourage. I teach, when possible. I let them all know that my questions were dumber than theirs, my fear was greater than theirs, and I was clumsier than they are.

If I can do this, anyone can.

And they do. And they are.