I was 12 years old when I bought my first gun in 1946. I had two paper routes and from the proceeds, about four dollars a week, I paid fifty cents a week on the rifle, a used .22 Remington bolt action repeater. It took me nine months to pay it off. I was thirteen when I finally took possession. Man, was I proud of that gun. Nobody thought a thing about a store selling a gun to a twelve year old.