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.