When did you start shooting?

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Grandpa made me a slingshot when I was 6 or 7 and told me to hide it from my parents
My parents got me a Crossman slingshot at 8 or 9
BB gun at 11
Air rifle at 14
Dad taught me to shoot his .22 at 15 and let me use it to control the pigeon population
Got my first gun, a 12 gauge 870, at 17

Then around the time I was 19 I was scolded by a buddy's dad for having my safety off while rabbit hunting. Turns out I was never taught basic gun safety, probably because my dad wasn't a shooter and didn't know himself. I probably went through another year of being a know-it-all before I wizened up and started taking gun safety serious and I was incredibly lucky nobody got hurt. I won't make the same mistake with my own kids.
 
My parents were liberal progressive uhhh not going to say it...
My dad always had a revolver (s&w 19) but he never shot it and my mom hated even the sight or mention of guns. That in turn drove me the other way, conservative republican who loves our country and guns.
First gun i got was when i moved to the hills of S.E. Tennessee at the age of 21, a gun is required. Didnt have much money and bought a taurus gaucho in 45 colt by recomendation of a gun nut i met (actually recomended a blackhawk but the extra $ wasnt there). I shot that thing all that i could afford - a box of 50 cowboy loads a week usually.
Thats been 15 years ago now and not to brag but ive done pretty well in life and increases to my gun collection. I now am allowed one gun purchase a year which usually happens the first week of january;).
Just part of keeping a wife happy and roof over my kids. You have lots of time to get what you want, buy smart and dont rush. Time will fly by and before you know it youll have a gun collection worth more than your car (a hi-point would accomplish that in my case). Good luck!
 
PegTheLeg said:
This is sort of just me being curious. I'm 26, and I really just got into shooting this year. I'd always been kind of intimidated by guns before. I didn't have a problem with them exactly, I was perfectly fine with people owning them as long as they were good with them. But it was when I started getting interested in hunting and the hunting culture here in Wyoming.
Now I'm going on my first hunt this year, but I know a lot of people start pretty dang young! Before they can even drive sometimes.

Anyone else start a little later in life?
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I started competitive NRA sponsored indoor 50 ft. smallbore, four position shooting when I was 11. That was in 1966. Won a 3rd place ribbon in kneeling 2 years later. It's still my favorite field position, too.
 
Boy was mom pissed, but my dad drove off with a smile that I remember to this day.

I wonder if we may be related.....
Nah! My folks divorced after 23 years....:thumbdown:
 
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Growing up, I always wanted a BB gun, but my extreme left-leaning father (a Marine, and Vietnam Vet to boot) would not even consider it. I shot a friend's BB gun a handful of times as a kid, but never had any real experience or anyone teach me how to shoot.

When I was in my late twenties my brother convinced me to take a firearms safety course with him. The irony that, whenever my dad visited, he always asked to join us at the shooting range. To this day, my dad posts non-stop anti-2A rhetoric on social media (but just try reconciling this level of hypocrisy with any liberal)...

I am often disappointed I had to grow up in such a heavily liberal state that stigmatizes gun ownership and owners. I often wish I had the upbringing so many others (including many on this board) have had- where their families geniuinely respected firearms, and trained future generations which succeeded them.

I guess this makes me somewhat of an anomaly- raised in a liberal family, in a liberal state (MA), with a degree from a liberal state university which did its absolute best to convince me there was no justification for a civilian to own a firearm while pursuing my Criminal Justice degree.

You likely will not be seeing me at any national shooting competitions anytime soon. I am still having a difficult time learning to control my accuracy with a handgun (i.e. not flinching or pulling). But I am an avid gun owner, and it is a real passion and hobby of mine. I do what I can to educate others 'behind enemy lines' that there is nothing wrong with being a gun owner. In fact, in a world that's rapidly falling apart at the seams, I do my best to encourage them to get involved, take a safety course, and join me at my range if they want to learn with me.
 
If a Daisy BB gun counts, it was on my birthday in 3rd grade.... but truth be told, I had been absconding with my brother's BB gun for some time.

Dad got me a 20 ga. shotgun for Christmas during 6th grade, after I completed a hunters safety class.
 
.455_Hunter said:
What's that dumb expression for?
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How many 13 year olds do you know that can legally purchase a handgun? How many 13 year olds can legally carry a handgun?

I live in the free state of AZ and a 13 year old must be accompanied by an adult when in possession of a handgun. Concealed carry license not required but individual must be 21. Open carry ok for 18 or older.
 
Poper said:
How many 13 year olds do you know that can legally purchase a handgun? How many 13 year olds can legally carry a handgun?

I live in the free state of AZ and a 13 year old must be accompanied by an adult when in possession of a handgun. Concealed carry license not required but individual must be 21. Open carry ok for 18 or older.
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Good for you. I needed a refresher on current AZ "free state" law.

Please explain, what do modern laws have ANYTHING to do with legalities in Colorado I was 13-18 in late 80's and early 90's?

Even now, you would be surprised about what is legal on private property and when officially "given permission" by parents/legal gaurdians.
 
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Great post ...thanks for bringing me back. My father and grandfather had me shooting at age seven, but I had two good friends at college about your age who had never held a firearm and helped them get started by jumping cans with a Ruger 10/22 and a Colt Woodsman. Today they're both hunters and gun collectors. Where I was raised, on the third Friday of every month, a large group of us, girls included, brought our rifles to school in zipper cases and placed them in our lockers. This was a public "junior" high, grades seven through nine. After school county school buses would drop us at a collection point where parents gathered to car pool us directly to a membership range. Not once was there an accidental discharge. Not once was there misuse of a firearm.

The conditions to join the rifle club, a student had to be in eighth grade (age 13?) and have an above average GPA, and then pass a rather extensive firearms safety course with final exam on paper and at the range with an instructor. I still remember mine, a gentleman named Neil Knox, who was so patient and kind and entertaining with us kids that his instruction and memory will last several lifetimes as passed down to my five kids. Mr. Knox later helped design safety programs for groups such as the NRA, and the effects on all members were profound in many ways. Kids in the seventh grade who were marginal students wanted so badly to join the club, they signed up for the county funded tutoring program, giving them an educational jump on life. Many of us remain good friends. Since we were allowed to bring our weekly quota of ammunition with us to school, I can only imagine the result, had some homicidal freak tried attack us, but that whole concept didn't exist -- not even as fiction.
 
warnerwh said:
There were people who kept their deer rifles in their vehicles in plain view so they could go hunt right after school. I'm sure glad I didn't have to wait until I was an adult because we had a lot of fun. What must be weird to younger people is that it never occurred to us to ever point a gun at someone much less shoot anyone. It is puzzling to me how sick our society has become.
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0700 here and my youngest brought me something to eat, read your post and said "That's the America I want" and then "...what happened." She's only 15, and a great shot, but who can explain?
 
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@ .455 Hunter:

And your last post is relevant to obturation's location, how?
AZ has some of the most lenient firearms laws in the US. If it isn't legal here, it probably isn't there, was the gist of the post, fyi.

Was it permissible for 13 y.o. to concealed carry in CO in the late 80's - early 90's? I am guessing probably not.

If I am not mistaken, GCA '68 made it illegal for a minor to purchase a handgun in the US. There are more knowledgeable people on this board that can/will likely clarify that bit of regulation.

I apologise for you being offended. That was not the intent of the post. Nor this one.
 
Poper said:
@ .455 Hunter:

And your last post is relevant to obturation's location, how?
AZ has some of the most lenient firearms laws in the US. If it isn't legal here, it probably isn't there, was the gist of the post, fyi.

Was it permissible for 13 y.o. to concealed carry in CO in the late 80's - early 90's? I am guessing probably not.

If I am not mistaken, GCA '68 made it illegal for a minor to purchase a handgun in the US. There are more knowledgeable people on this board that can/will likely clarify that bit of regulation.

I apologise for you being offended. That was not the intent of the post. Nor this one.
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Sigh...

Did I say that I directly purchased a handgun from a dealer? No, they were owned in the family.

Did I say I was concealed carrying in public? No, it was open carry in legal areas (private property or national Forest/BLM). Come home from school, strap on my .38, and carry on our mountain property that was overrun at the time by mountain lions (and still is).

And, no, prior to Denver's 1993 "Summer of Violence" and the subsequent panic state youth handgun law, there was no attempted blanket restriction on possession. I should know, I was right in the middle of fighting against it as a youth activist. The national law came in 1996.

My apologies to OP for the derailment.
 
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.455_Hunter said:
What's that dumb expression for?

Not everyone's families treated their teens as special snowflakes.

From 13 on up, I had access to a weapon whenever I needed it, including OC on private and legal public areas.

Does that frieighten you?
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Why so offended? Relax, i thought we're all friends here. I think that a 13 year old that carrys a firearm is very unusual anywhere , not to mention illegal almost everywhere so excuse my suprise.
Does that frighten me, well yeah kind of if you werent supervised, which you didnt specify originally. Young teens do crazy reckless things, not all but most.
Not everyone is out to get you, i didnt say anything to intentionally offend you and if i did i am sorry.
 
Obturation said:
Why so offended? Relax, i thought we're all friends here. I think that a 13 year old that carrys a firearm is very unusual anywhere , not to mention illegal almost everywhere so excuse my suprise.
Does that frighten me, well yeah kind of if you werent supervised, which you didnt specify originally. Young teens do crazy reckless things, not all but most.
Not everyone is out to get you, i didnt say anything to intentionally offend you and if i did i am sorry.
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I guess it just depends on your perspective. SOME teens do crazy and reckless stuff, OTHERS are more responsible than some adults multiple times their age. My friend group was highly responsible, and we had access to multiple handguns on pretty much any occasion. We didn't drink, smoke, fight or other stupid stuff [THR self edit].

We hiked camped, and shot in the Colorado Front Range. We didn't have constant supervision because we didn't need it. So, yeah, I get a bit annoyed by people who express shock and dismay at the fact that I carried a real handgun afterschool cutting firewood while they played video games.
 
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Daisy BB gun for my birthday, I had to have been in the 6-8 years old range. I wasn't much older than that when I started shooting a ton of 22LR and I started hunting as soon as I turned 12. I grew up on a farm in rural Oregon so I shot a ton as a kid. I just recently turned 41. I haven't gotten my oldest daughter past a BB gun yet but she's only 9, and my other two are still too young. My wife is not and has never been a fan of guns but is okay with me teaching the girls to shoot if they want.
 
Harriw said:
Anyway, it's contagious... I just turned 39, and took my 2 oldest kids out to the range with .22's for their first time this summer. They both had a blast. My brothers both enjoy shooting with me when we can manage to get together too (one lives on the opposite coast, but a trip to the range is always on his "to-do" list when he comes to visit). I have to catch her in the right mood, but even my wife loves shooting the .22's when I can convince her to come. My father can't shoot anymore due to a pacemaker "installation" a few years ago, but I did bring him skeet shooting once or twice before that, and he still enjoys coming along when my brothers and I go - he brings the binoculars and calls our shots for us when shooting paper :) My FIL also thoroughly enjoys shooting. He sticks mainly to handguns due to a broken collarbone years ago from a motorcycle accident. That makes it difficult for us to shoot together (we live in NY and NJ, and the various crazy laws make it difficult to say the least given that we're residents of different crazy states). But we enjoy talking shop and fondling each other's new acquisitions at least.
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Haha it certainly is contagious! I only have two, but I do have ideas of what other ones I want! Sadly it's an expensive hobby, but worth it~
I'm really looking forward to hunting this year! But, I know I'll have a lot of fun at the range off season.
 
OP: do you mean when people began shooting on a regular basis?

In my 20's, used the .22 rifle--only this gun-- four times in two years.
Regular basis, at age 52, started in '07 (first gun purchase was that year). Living just a 12 min. drive from the best private shooting club in a very large region really helps people catch up.

Buying at least 22 rifles and 17 handguns since 2007 has really helped.
 
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My father got me started when I was a kid, maybe 6-7 years old, that was 50 years ago. He gave me my first .22 rifle when I was 11, my first handgun, a .22 revolver, when I was 16. I've hunted and shot recreationally my whole life and have many years of military and civilian law enforcement experience under my belt, I also shoot in competition. Guns have always been part of my life and their carry and use are pretty much second nature to me. I've raised my children the same way.
 
I started shooting late in my early childhood, about 8 or 9 years old. A Sears 22 rifle and an H&R 22 revolver. The revolver is the first handgun that my 12 siblings and I first shot, also the first handgun most of my nieces and nephews shot. It's currently with one of my nephews and he is teaching his kids how to shoot with it.
I also remember having a shotgun (at least) in the family truck and car back then. We seldom locked our cars. It was a different world back then.
 
So long ago I can't really remember. Maybe 6YO with a BB gun. A .22 a few years later. .410 shotgun in my early teens. Then a 20GA Savage 3" mag pump followed by a Remington 20GA mag. Around 16 or so I got a Remington Model 600 .308. Got an ole Smith .38 spl when I could followed by a smith 39-2. Many more have followed.
 
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