I guess it happened to me when I was about 16.  My grandfather thought it would be fun if he and I went out and got a .22.  Something he and I could go to the shooting range and plink with.  The 10/22 caught both our eyes for different reasons.  He liked it because it reminded him of the M1 carbine he carried in WWII.  I liked it because it was semi.  We got a little 4x simmons and put on it and had a blast.  I started to look around and noticed I could get High cap mags and all kinds of neat stuff for it and cheap too...  At one time Mal-Mart sold Ramline 30 round double stacks for ten bucks.  You believe that?  Anyway, it started there.  Shortly after making the 10/22 look like the meanest machine on the block I wanted something bigger, better, and more bad assed.  

Got a gift of a H&R .22 Single Shot, and a Rossi .22 Revolver at a gods-honest age 5.
Dad was going to make damn sure his boy appreciated RKBA, and he did it from a young age.

1969
Dad had us load our own 20ga shells on a mec jr
If we wanted to shoot?? load em up![uzi]

For me, not until my 20's.  I was doing some research for work on range design for a new state police firing range, so I had to go to some ranges and look around.  As I was talking to one range owner, he takes me into the range (after closing) to look at the backstops.  All of a sudden, he hands me the .357 and two speed loaders from his holster and says "Why don't you take a few shots?"

From the first shot I was hooked like a crack whore.  Within a month I bought a Sig 226 and a Glock 17.  Within a year, I had over a dozen AR15's and almost 40 guns total.  After that I got bit by the NFA bug, so I started selling off the semis and buying machineguns instead because the semis weren't enough of a rush anymore. Now the machineguns are starting to get boring - I think I need something with more firepower.  Yeah, I am truly an addict.

Does the Betty Ford Clinic treat this addiction?

6 yrs old first bb gun.  My son got his first at 5 and will get his first .22 this year for christmas he is 8 now.

I can't remember not liking guns.  Dad bought me my first .22 at 12 and first pistol, a .22 at 14.  Always had them around the house unlocked.  If I ever wanted to see one dad took it out for me.  Didn't start buying like crazy till '94 though.  Gun laws are good for some things.

The gun bug must be a crotch cricket because I was bitten on the way out of the oven.

TRUE STORY:
December, 1992.  Right after I voted Democrat for the last time in my Life...

My girlfriend at the time had bought me a subscription to Guns&Ammo when she got some magazines for herself.  After I got the first issue, I was HOOKED.
I started to notice that all the anti-gun political people had (D) after their names.  I figured out what that meant soon enough.  But, it took me a while to see more of the big picture.  I couldn't understand why all these people I'd voted for were against a Constitutional right.

Then, my best friend bought me the Rush Limbaugh book.  I spent the next couple of months trying to describe my heretofore unexplored political philosophy and grab a title for it.  HA!
I'd blindly voted Democrat since I was old enough to vote, and thought that's what I was all the way back to about 10-years old, as best as I could recollect.
Now, I was all FUKKED up!
I was driving a short bus for a small outfit and the two guys that ran the espresso stand at the end of the run used to listen to Rush everyday.  I'd have some real weird conversations with them as I ordered a QuadShot and looked at my Guns&Ammo and tried to decide if I was a Social Democrat or a Liberal Republican or a Constitutional Whatever...all the while hearing "dittos" in the background.
A few months after this started, I decided the Republicans were the party of choice and began my trip out of the Liberal Brainwashing I'd received/perceived as I grew up.
I never really knew how my folks voted, as they didn't push that upon me or my brother.
I kept getting more and more gun magazines and learned more from reading them and my Rush book.
Now, I'm voting 180-degrees from where I did, and here I am on AR15.com, proud owner of a Bushmaster and a half, plus assorted other implements of Freedom.
Man, that feels good to get off my chest!
God Bless the Republic!

At the age of six.

I Still remember how that Remington Nylon 66 felt.  Really blasted those Pabst Blue Ribbon cans to heck!

Never looked back since and my Dad still has that Nylon 66.

30 years and counting.................

When "they" come to take your weapons..........
????Why did you buy an AR-15????
????When did you get bitten by the gun bug????
first of all doorgunner the answer to your questions is none of your business.second is who the f'ck are you?you taking a survey?????No flame on you ,but you're asking questions that should not be asked or answered.it still amazes me what information some people will ask for and others will give on the internet.mmk

Six months ago, I suppose: right around Christmas.  I got into ballistics of the .223 (can't even remember why now), and I was so impressed with the load that I decided to get a gun that used one.  I also figured, "hell I might as well shoot competitions" being the idealist that I am...so I choose an AR15 as my first and only firearm.

Four months have passed since I got one, and I enjoy every second of it.  I'm 21 now, too bad I didn't get into this stuff more as a kid - might actually have been competent by now.

Jewbroni~

If you are into chronystats, check out the 5.45X39 "Airpocket"-

Or the Norma 10.

Or any of the littany of amazing loads for the 6.5 Swede.

Far more impressive than the 5.56- Realitivley speaking.

It's really interesting to see how many Dads handed down the hobby. Some of my earliest memories are of gun shows with my dad. Gave me an Ithica "Saddle Gun" .22 for my seventh birthday. unfortunately, my Mom tried to shoot him with it many years later but that's another story...

My father, in his infinite wisdom, and in an effort to remind me of my German heritage and at the same time instill an interest in history and firearms, gave me an original mint 1917 Luger at the age of 8. It was a very good Christmas.

Relax ass master!  I don't' think the questions I asked where that personally intrusive.  It was just a topic to share stories with other gun owners.  It amazes me at what some people with get pissed off about!  If you don't like the post.... don't f*cking read it and don't reply!  

Who the Hell can keep track of all the "wildcats out there"??
Hell? I bet most of you dont even know who Elmer Keith is? ooze??
hehe!:D

I started when I was 10, when my stepfather taught me how to handle them safely, clean, fire, etc.

I got SERIOUS when THE GOSHDARN GUBMINT STARTED THREATENING TO TELL ME I COULDN'T HAVE 'EM.

[%|]

I am 44 years old and really have no memory of the fist time my father held my hands and the revolver together, but my mother has told me about it. She swore I used the sights and pulled the trigger by myself, and had the pic's to prove it. Been hooked ever since. I really don't mind answering the questions, I am well known to the BATF anyway, and if you are here so are you.

Rew

It is with great fear and paranoia that I must recant my True Story, and henceforth will not divulge any information, true or false, on the internet...
A Lurker is the only safe identity.  SAFE SURF is my new motto.  Tin foil is my mental condom.
Lack of participation is my way.

HA!  Just kidding!

I've always been into guns and the military since I was in 4th grade.  Always an interest, even though i never joined (my eyes are really awful, for one).  Always enjoyed shooting, but never owned a gun till the summer of 1999 when I was 26.  Bought a WUM-2 AK variant, and have since loaded up on a bunch more guns.  Can't quite say what finally prompted me to take the plunge.  I wasn't especially flush or anything, I just wanted to finally have a gun of my own.

I can't seem to see anywhere in my post where i called you any names,do you?what i see from your post,is a young wannabe asking survey questions.before you go attacking me with some name like ass master you best know whom you're talking to.mmk

I don't have to know you.. I know your type..hahahaha  Anyway, look I'm not asking survey questions, I'm not the BATF, I'm not a young wannabe whatever that is, and you're right I attacked you.  You stated "who the f'ck are you?"  I took that as an offensive gesture toward me and retorted in a way I felt fit.  We, my friend, are even.  Have a nice day.

Grew up with guns. My family used to farm in elcentro calif. I was about 3yrs. old

No shit surfer?
I hunt pheasants in El Centro
Palm Springs area

Been huntin Ducks and Geese on the salton sea for awhile now

It happened to me when that "doctor" guy hung me upside down and slapped me. I just wanted to kick his butt, but he was way too big for me. He's lucky I didn't have my SP101 on me......



[moon]

I was born a Southerner, so I guess loving guns, shooting, fishing, and hunting all came from my bloodlines.  I remember having toy guns and hats from my earliest of memories.  I have seen almost no old family 8mm's where I don't have cowboy guns on, army rifle in hand, or at least a sword, or bow.  In all these I am usually donnng the appropriate headwear, too!

My first gun was given to me when I was maybe 5 or 6, a Stephens (Ranger) 16 gauge sXs, passed down from my great great aunt to me by way of my dad.  It was for my first deer hunt, and I shot a four point with it.  Has been my all around hunting gun since.  I had it restored two years ago, put about $400.00 in it, but it is worth far more than that to me!  It is relegated to an annual dove hunt, now, but still shoots wherever I look.

About five years ago I bought a SIG P226 9mm, and that started a new virus, but that's another story! [8D]

I was about 5. We have pictures and I also remember going to the shotgun range with my Dad. We would sit and watch him shoot trap & Skeet all day. After each round after the filed was clear we would gather up his hulls. Been hooked ever since and am 33 now. My boy will be 6 in June and will get him a BB gun for B-day and a .22 for x-Xmas. He loves to sit at the bench with me and put the rounds in the cases. after they fall from my Dillon.

Here it is from a kid who's never yet fired a gun.
I've been conservative for maybe 7-8 years and always thought I'd own guns when I grew up. I was writing a paper about guns(yes, an early symptom - must have been all those toy ones my parents bought me when I was a wee toddler) so I bought my first copy of Guns & Ammo. Whoops, guess I caught that congenital condition. One thing lead to another and I came to this site.
FULL CONVERSION!!!![whacko]
Now I count the days until I reach 18 and go off to college so I can buy my first gun. Why? Cuz idiot NYC pretty much bans everything above and including BB's. [-!-]
Oh well, 500 days to go. [:D]

Been shooting for as long as i can remember 29 years and running.

I must have been about 5 or 6 when my dad actualy let me fire a few rounds off the bench out of his m1 garand (god that was a big rifle at the time).

I shot that rifle for years along with his luger and 1911. It wasnt until i was a teenager with a job untill the gun collection grew (go figure :) )

The first gun we split the cost on was  an ar-15 then we had to get another one (one for him one for me) then came another garand , luger, bm-59,and another toy then another and on and on
My father has always had a soft spot for military firearms and recreational shooting.
I guess the apple never falls far from the tree.

Up until about a year ago I was petrified of guns.  I, then, was introduced to a Sig 228.  Once I was educated and began going to the shooting range, I was immediately hooked!

I never owned a gun until 9 years ago. I'm 45 now. My father died in the Air Force and I was raised by my mother. No guns in the house and only a sister. My sons told me one day we were the only people in the county who did not go deer hunting. I bought 3 SKS's because all the shots around here are under 100 yards and they are accurate at that range. Then when everyone was bashing my cheap deer rifles because they were EVIL I got mad! I starting buying every "assault" rifle I could get my hands on and I LOVE IT! Shooting is a great sport and I will fight to the end to keep my 2nd rights. Just a late bloomer.

I was around 13 years old.  There was a place near our house where lots would come to shoot.  My brother and I used to hang around waiting for someone to come shoot.  When they did, they were usually more than happy to let us kids shoot.  I fired all kinds of cool weapons.  Ahhh, youth!