I still have my first gun - a Ruger Security Six in 357 Mag - that I picked up at a pawn shop in '92. I was 46 at the time, but have been around guns all my life, and bought this one for security reasons.
More interesting is that my wife of eleven years bought her first gun at about age 20 - a Sterling Model 302, .22LR Pistol - that she bought for personal protection. She taught her son how to shoot it as soon as he could hold it secure enough. Her son is now 38, an avid shooter, and has been a reserve sheriff. I bought a Sterling Model 300, .25 Auto, to keep the 302 company.
Between the two of us, we've begun a modest collection, ranging from that Sterling .22 up through some big bore rifles. We enjoy target shooting and running "drills" from time to time.
Woody
Look at your rights and freedoms as what would be required to survive and be free as if there were no government. Governments come and go, but your rights live on. If you wish to survive government, you must protect with jealous resolve all the powers that come with your rights - especially with the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Without the power of those arms, you will perish with that government - or at its hand. B.E. Wood