Started shooting about 1963 or so, when I was 8 or 9 years old. My dad wasn't much of a shooter, but we had a relative who often took me to the range (with his daughter!) to shoot .22s and an M1 Carbine.
My first gun was a Daisy BB, followed by a Remington Nylon 66. I owned my first handgun as either an 8th grader in junior high, or as a freshman in high school (A Browning Nomad, followed soon thereafter by what was the first of about 14 Ruger Single Sixes, but I digress).
Dad became a bit more interested in guns because of me! He first bought a Mossberg 500, and I later gave him both a Remington 1100 and an SKB 100. He never owned a rifle until a few years before he passed, a minty Carcano I found to match the one he carried in WWII (yeah, he was on Il Duce's side, I don't need any jokes about that).
That Ruger Single Six pretty much ruined me for life, as I have owned 30 or 40 single actions since that time. There are more than I like to admit to in the safe. I have been involved in many aspects of shooting, rifles, handguns of all sorts, shotguns, black powder, air rifles, you name it. I love to shoot.
Retirement is in 2 years, 107 days as I write this, and I am blessed with a young wife and a two year old son. We intend to move to the country soon after I leave my job, and I will have the distinct pleasure of teaching my son (and our June expected new child) the pleasures of shootin' 'n fishin'.
Hey, this middle-aged wonder has gone on long enough!