How Did You Get Into Guns?

[tv1217]

I got into guns when I was 26. I had always held a "liberal" view of gun ownership

You know, technically, the right to bear arms is a liberal viewpoint, it just tends to be accepted by people with mostly conservative views and shunned by people with mostly liberal views.

 

[boozoo]

I was broken in early on a .22 trainer dad had... maybe about 7yrs old. When I was 8 or 9, he introduced me to Mister Mauser. Wow. It left quite an impression on me. ;-)

I also grew up firing his Lugers, Nambus, etc....

Kind of makes me mad when I think about how much I missed out on over the years when I went "inactive" for a while.

 

[versuchstier147]

Our story begins.

I was four (maybe five) and I saw Terminator 2.

End of story.

 

[Roadie]

My earliest memory of anything to do with guns was being around 10 years old. I would occasionally stay at my aunt's outside of Kokomo. She had a rather large vegetable garden, and I would sit out back in a lawn chair with her bolt action .22 and shoot "varmints" with birdshot. At the distance I was at, it probably stung, but didn't hurt them. My parents HATED me doing that, lol. After that is was BB guns, pellet rifles, etc.

It seems like most of my friends have been gun owners, and a few of my roommates. I had one roommate that owned a S&W 5906, an SKS and an AR15. My next roommate had a Glock, a couple shotguns, and a .22 pocket pistol.

I always said that the time would come, one day I would feel like it was the right time to become a handgun owner. Well, that time has come. Between the crime rates in our city, the riff raff moving into my apartment complex, AND Obama and Pelosi et al, I felt the time was NOW.

So, I have the Bersa at home, and I am waiting for my LTCH.

 

[iam1096]

I sneaked out at age 15 and bought a BB gun. At age 21 bought a S&W 686 on my birthday. At age 25 quit a better paying job to work at a gun shop to buy firearms cheaper. After I completed my gun collection, 14 years later I left that job and got a better paying one. I still go to gun shops weekly but don't have to put up with the people who know all. My hole family is anti-gun and I love them.I am the black sheep.

 

[shooter@5(4)life]

OUT

 

[TGUNTER]

Grandfather had me out shooting and hunting so long ago I do not ever remember not being around guns. Today that is now the best thing I do is take my son out to do the same things I did forty years ago. Now he is getting ready to go to college, I guess I will get some new toys for when he comes home to visit.

 

[fullauto 45]

You could say I was born into it. Born early enough for WWII & Korea to have been still fresh in everyones minds. My Grandfather was a WWII vet who brought back several captured guns. Taken from a few dudes who could not use them any more. Wish I still had those. And my uncle who was in Korea. Brought back a few items taken from those "pesky little fellers". I started going hunting when I was 3. As soon as I could stay up with my great grandpa and grandpa and dad and uncles.
Does anyone remember when hunting was a family sport? I do.

 

[Flintlock]

My dad taught my sister and I to shoot with our grandpa's remington model 12 pump 22 that he was taught to shoot on. I don't remember an age, but I was young. Once I was big enough to hold it he taught me. I can't remember a part of my life before guns. He let me shoot the pump 12ga when I was big enough to safely handle it. Dad's more of a shotgun and revolver man, so we would always just plink with the 22 and then he taught me to shoot pistol on his single six. From there I've learned to shoot everything else he has. When I was 10 or 11 we won a drawing for a free Marlin semi-auto .22 which was our first semi-auto. When I was 12 or so I decided I wanted a m1903 Springfield. I ended up compromising with a m1917 since it was all I could afford (and I saved for a long time!), but I only shot it once or twice. A few months after that Dad and I took it to the gunshow and traded it and a little cash he loaned me for am M1 Garand which has since become my favorite gun. I didn't know much about them then, but I've since learned it is a correct grade M1 in pristine condition. Luck was with me on that gun. We both got our lifetime ltch when I turned 18 and I found INGO in the fall on 2008 and have really become a gun "nut" since then.

 

[shooter@5(4)life]

OUT

 

[gunrunner0320]

my mom and dad got me a bb gun for xmas i think i was 12 he would take me down the road to an old junk yard and let me shoot it there i got really good at hiting shot gun shell that were placed on top an old car that was there it just went from there .

 

[haldir]

I was born into it. Every male in the family hunted back at that time. It was just expected.

 

[Turtle]

Got into it all by my lonesome. My grampa tought me to throw knives as a kid and I was a good shot throwing at a dart board.... Im good at darts too. Then I got a BB gun and the OBSESSION with guns begain..... I have tought and converted my family in the process.

 

[Old Salt]

My father started me shooting both a .22 rifle and pistol at age four. My whole family has a history with firearms. My maternal grandfather was a sharpshooter in WWII and my paternal grandfather could shoot wood bees out of the air with a .22 pistol (I kid you not).

 

[shooter@5(4)life]

OUT

 

[josterman]

I have grown into it by going hunting at the age of 10. Now I am just waiting to get my first handgun.

 

[P Starr]

Growing up in backwoods Arkansas they were just always around. I first shot a shotgun around 4-5 years old. I never really shot any more after that and never really gave them much thought. I'm more of an archery gal.

Then a few months ago a good friend of mine took me to shoot a handgun and I really enjoyed it. I was pretty good at it and am really enjoying it a lot.

Of course, my heart still belongs to archery but I don't mind shooting as well.

 

[Bisley Man]

I grew up watching the classic westerns on TV. I've always loved guns, even the toy guns Mom and Dad would buy for me. When I would watch the Lone Ranger, even as early as I can remember, I would admire the guns and rigs worn by the characters.What is more beautiful than a Colt SAA in nickle plate and ivory stocks? (I know,plastic on the shows) Or ivory on blued Colts(Lawman, John Wayne) Or stag stocks(Tonto, Marshal Dillon, played by REAL hero James Arness) And also, what could be more cool than to be a detective and wear a snub .38 in a crossdraw holster, like Broderick Crawford in Highway Patrol?(10-4) Or to wear a 1911 in a flap holster in the classic war movies of our youth, like Airforce, They Were Expenable.We never had guns around, although Grandpa had a Colt 1911 38 Super he'd show me sometimes. Dad had enough of them on Gualdalcanal.I guess it's just red blooded American boyhood tv that got me loving guns.

 

[VN Vet]

When I was a kid of 10 or so, I fell in love with sniffing the spent shotgun shells of my Grandfather. I've been addicted to that smell ever since. After that, I have added gun oils to my favorite smells. I found out that getting into firearms was an easy way to keep my addictions fulfilled. True story.

 

[tv1217]

SSSA

Shotgun Shell Sniffers Anonymous