What sparked your interest in guns?

[Jason977]

Family

I got my first Daisy bb gun long before I could shoulder the stock and still reach the trigger, so I shot with the stock in my armpit. My grandpa lived in the city and we often shot beer cans filled with water and the big star on the Lone Star box made a good bullseye. (If you're listening grandpa, sorry to make you sound like a drunk

Later we did quit a bit of plinking, clays, and a little bird hunting. Starting in my high school and college years my main focus was dirt bike racing, but whenever I was out of commission due to injury I always seemed to re-focus on the gun hobby. My latest shooting hobby growth spurt has been going on for two years now since I broke my femur.

Even though my family (especially my dad) introduced me to the hobby, he still thinks I went a little off the deep end, and can't understand why I need anything more than a rifle, shotgun and a .22. Much less a half dozen handguns.

 

[HOWARD J]

I was told that I could not have a gun -- I was 13.
I took care of that.

 

[EWO]

Tough for me to answer with just one. I would vote both family and friend if given the option. I grew up with a few guns in the house, but never really shot them much, but was perfectly comfortable around them. My childhood friend got into them a bit more once we hit our late teens/early twenties and sparked my interest a bit more. I even bought a couple at that time. Lately though, it's been all me. I just decided to get into shooting again about a year ago and have been pretty hardcore into it ever since.

 

[cesarv]

I voted for family, but wish I could vote for multiple choices. My father had 2 rifles and a pistol when I was very young, and used them for hunting. Since we used to go to Mexico to visit my grandparents and hunt, they stayed back there. The only other gun I remember my dad having was a Beretta 92FS that he used for protection in his restaurant. He would bring the money back himself, so he needed protection.

Then the military. I guess this is where most of my firearm instruction came.

 

[smoothmetal]

My family. My dad had a vast collection of guns. He was a great hunter; loved the African Safari.

 

[oldfool]

must be a too young crowd around here
TV, of course, honorable mention to movies

2 out of 3 half hour TV shows in black & white - westerns
Have Gun Will Travel, Tales of Wells Fargo, Wyatt Earp, Wanted Dead or Alive, "Hobie", Wagon Train, Rawhide, Gunsmoke
most often watched 1 hour TV show - Disney's" Davy Crockett" whist wearin' your own coonskin cap (when Disney was still Walt)
saturday matinee - the real "King" - Roy Rogers
(practicing your fast draw with your Mattel Fanner 50s after !)
and for the more mature late night TV crowd - Combat
(and I didn't even know the words to Lili Marlene until 15-20 years later)

alas, today ya'll only have (non) reality TV
no wonder the ranks of good shooters are shrinking so badly !
(not to mention white cowboy hats)

 

[MacDuff]

Elmer Keith!

 

[HarleyFixer]

I would have to say birth. I have had guns almost my entire life and don't remember life before them.

 

[tuckerdog1]

Picked 'OTHER'.

Had one stuck in my face while being robbed. Decided I didn't like, not being able to return the favor.

It grew from there.

Tuckerdog

 

[pbearperry]

What sparked my interest in firearms?

Watching Hoppy on tv around 1952 got me going,followed by Roy Rogers,Gene Autry and the Range Rider.

 

[jdowney]

Family here as well, dad was a gunsmith for a while and always had guns around. Started shooting .22's as a 9 year old and would go plinking at every opportunity - wasn't hard to talk dad into it either

Even my mom learned to shoot .22's as a kid at summer camp, though I don't recall ever going shooting with her.

 

[Zach S]

I guess I could say LE, and their response time...

 

[rscalzo]

Had to put other as my first experiences was through a Police Athletic League rifle club sponsored by the police department using a great club that was located in northern New Jersey at the time.

A few of the older officers where bullseye shooters at the club and one civilian in particular ran the club and many of us were introduced. For years Austin Berhlert would attend the matches held several times a year that drew a large number of great shooters and do on site repairs and modification out of the back of his VW Microbus. His family was always along. As Junior Members, we were the official target replacement crew. worked for hamburgers.

Later I joined that department and took over firearms still using that same club. We had a great relationship with those members and our semi-annual firearms qualifications were more of a picnic/shoot than a necessary chore. Unfortunately the county bought the property and turned it into a park. A range didn't fit their plans so it was gone along with some great memories and experiences. Doubt I would have had the opportunity to shoot an actual M-14 if they weren't around.

 

[788Ham]

Family. I've been around guns since I wore three cornered knickers. My Grandpa and Pop hunted for many years, Pop got my older brother and I into Jr NRA at 8 years old. Family has hunted since that time, when lucky, we'd get 3 deer and 3 antelope every year, the freezer was full and we had to rent a locker for all of the meat! Still shoot whenever we can, don't remember anyone having more influence on firearms more than my grandpa, was one Hell of a shot!

 

[Blackbeard]

I was introduced to shooting by my dad when I was a kid, but never took it up as a hobby until my late 30s. What sparked my interest then was the Illinois legislature considering a bill to ban "high" capacity magazines. The bill passed the house and was scheduled for a third reading in the senate, but it contained a grandfather clause for guns & magazines owned before the bill was enacted into law. So, I decided if I ever wanted one of these guns, I'd better get one now. Got my FOID, got some classes, and bought a Glock and an AR, and the rest is history.

So, I owe a debt of gratitude to Illinois Democrats. Without them I may never have taken up this great pastime.

P.S. They never did pass that bill, either!

 

[Sauer Grapes]

My grandfather hunted, my father hunted. I had a BB gun at 5, a .22 at 7, and a 16ga. shotgun at 10.
As with my father and grandfather, I've had a couple handguns for 30yrs., but never really shot them at all. Now I shoot handguns just about every week.
I've only owned one hunting rifle in my life but a bunch of .22s. I still have my Rem. 760 which I just shot last weekend for the first time in 15yrs.
While other kids were playing with GI Joe, I was shooting.

 

[Crusader103]

I came from a "gun family" so I shot from our front porch (grew up on a farm) before I could even hold a gun up by myself.

In junior high school I got a job at an outdoor shooting range in Broomfield, CO (Western Gun Club) which has long since been developed into a golf course or shopping center. I worked (if you can call it work) there every weekend during the school year and 7 days a week during the summers through high school. That's where I really started to sharpen my skills at trap, clays, precision rifle, handguns, and even black powder. I'd be arrested now but I used to keep my guns in my vehicle while parked on school grounds, skip class, and go shooting.

Went into the Marines at age 18, became a firearms instructor, got out and went to work as a police officer, and have continued to shoot (and instruct) as much as ever.

I still shoot matches every weekend unless I am busy teaching a course to military/law enforcement/private citizens. I am fortunate that I not only get to shoot but that some people feel I am worthy to instruct them and therefore allow me to pass on my knowledge to others.

 

[bannockburn]

My brothers and I had plenty of toy guns, but Mom wouldn't let us have any BB guns. Sometime when I was around 11 or 12, I got a magazine subscription to "Guns and Ammo", and I was hooked. I even used to bring my gun magazines to school (keep in mind this was many, many years ago), and hid them inside my textbooks while I was supposed to be studying. I would go to the library and read any and every book they had about firearms. Saved up my money, bought a Postal money order, and got a Replica Model Colt SAA from an ad I saw in the back of the magazine.

When I was 17 I got my first job and one of the guys I worked with used to go shooting and did some hunting out on his family's property outside of town. His Dad used to go around to pawn shops and always found some old rifle or shotgun to bring home. When I went out there with them, I usually picked a Remington Speedmaster .22 pump or else a Ithaca Model 37 20 gauge they had. As soon as I could save up enough money, I bought my first rifle, a Ruger 10/22. So I guess I would say that books/magazines started my interest in guns, with friends helping me to experience shooting for the first time.

 

[teetertotter]

To The Question: Wanting to shoot .22 rifle NRA competitively 3 years ago. Needed a hobby and meet people and have fun. Never been happier. I hope to buy a target grade .22 rifle in 2011, used, if can find around here.

 

[mexica]

Voted family, my Dad and Uncle were in WWII. He bought my first 10/22.

 

[JellyJar]

Moved to Texas in 1981. Lots of bad guys hurting good guys there back then ( and even today ) Finally was working in a furniture store that was robbed at gunpoint and realized that sometimes handguns could be useful for self defense.

Decided to do my on research on RKBA and today I am an endowment member of the NRA and CCW almost all the time.

 

[orionengnr]

My dad was WWII military and got me started at an early age. Although he did not stick around to cultivate that interest, it grew on it's own.
My time in the miltary helped, but my interest in RKBA mostly developed outside of all of that.

 

[Crusader103]

I even used to bring my gun magazines to school (keep in mind this was many, many years ago), and hid them inside my textbooks while I was supposed to be studying.

Sounds familiar. When I was in junior high I had a "extra credit hour" for which I worked in the principal's office every morning. Whenever there was nothing to do, I would break out my gun magazine. I always talked to the secretaries about guns, one of whom often came to the shooting range (where I worked) with her husband. The only reservation that the principal had about me reading gun magazines in his office was that I leave them for him to read when I was done.

I guess times have changed. I don't even feel that old.

 

[effengee]

i voted other because there was no all of the above option

family mostly, my dad and older brother owned guns ever since I can remember, and I've been into war movies and gun flicks ever since then too.

Been around guns all my life, and am raising six just like me.

 

[Deanimator]

I had little or no interest in firearms as a kid. We had no guns in the house... kind of a bad strategy given where we lived on the southeast side of Chicago. We ended up putting iron gates on the front and back doors, bars on the back windows and a steel prop rod in the front door to prevent the sort of home invasions that were rampant in the neighborhood. One afternoon, I was playing on our apartment's back porch when cops chased a guy up the back stairs to the porch next door. They caught him before he could jump over the bannister to our side.

Then one night my mother, who hated guns, pointed to somebody on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and said, "Look at that funny gun."

It wasn't too much later that my grandmother (who liked to mess with my parents), started buying me gun magazines and gun books. I got my first "Smallarms of the World" between 7th and 8th grades.

I bought my first gun in college and have bought dozens more since then. I'm an NRA certified instructor and have been a pistol and rifle competitor.

Of course my mother hated it, but there was nothing she could do about it. But hey, Dr. Frankenstein wasn't too happy with his creation either...