Were you BORN a gun enthusiast?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Were you BORN a gun enthusiast? (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:20:14 AM EDT

Lately I've been thinking about this hobby of mine and wondered just how long I have been interested in guns. Since childhood, I have been shooting, reading about, discussing, and handling guns. I would stare at my GI JOE's guns long before I could own a real one myself. This occurred even without outside influences from family and friends.

I have seen that some on the boards here didn't become interested in guns until later in life. I can't understand how anyone could have waited that long!

So who here was BORN a gun enthusiast?

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:28:53 AM EDT

[#1]

I started shooting at 4

, got a mini 14 at 8

, 10/22 at 10

, AR-15 at 11

, and so on..........

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:29:32 AM EDT

[#2]

Started shooting at five with my Dad. At four I knew I wanted to be a soldier.

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:35:02 AM EDT

[#3]

I started shooting around 5, but was hanging out with my parents at the range as long as I can remember. Was cleaning my fathers M-16 when I was 7 (would bring it home at lunch and make me clean it) along with his 45. I would sit in a deer stand with a thermos of coffee while my parents were hunting long before I could hold up a rifle.

I honestly don't believe that anyone is born a shooter, but the proper parents can definitely influence you before you would even be able to realize (or remember) what that influence was.

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:35:56 AM EDT

[#4]

I was born "into" the 2nd ID as a dependant.

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:36:49 AM EDT

[#5]

Born and raised...

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:39:09 AM EDT

[#6]

I think my love of history lead me down the path of gun ownership. That and my own, natural parinoia.LOL

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:40:04 AM EDT

[#7]

born...

ive always had a fascination with them...

dont know where it came from...

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:41:29 AM EDT

[#8]

I didn't own a firearm until I was 21 years old.

Late bloomer.

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:43:54 AM EDT

[#9]

I have a photograph of me taken at age 3 and I have two six-shooters in holsters on each hip.

I fired my first .22 rifle at age 5, and my first centerfire rifle (in .308 cal.) at age 7.

My grandfather bought me my first centerfire rifle, a Spanish Mauser in 7x57, at age 10.

So, yeah, I suppose that I have been a member of the 'gun culture' all of my life.

Eric The(WellArmed)Hun

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:44:15 AM EDT

[#10]

Grew up in a boarding house. No guns or alcohol allowed. Didn't fire a gun until basic training and that was an M-14. Came back from scenic Indo China but owned no guns until I got my first .357 revolver in 1977. Then I was hooked.

Recently sold all my guns because they're dangerous. I did it for the children.

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:45:09 AM EDT

[#11]

Nobody's BORN that way... but at a very early age, my dad ensured we knew how to shoot. First range time for me was probably 4 or 5 years old. I played with GI Joes etc., when I got older... I just always enjoyed it.

When I was born my dad put up a framed print of the "To ride, shoot straight, and speak the truth..." poem. I still have it- I will put it in my son's room should my wife and I be so fortunate as to have a child.

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:46:34 AM EDT

[#12]

I first became interested in firearms at around 5. I would be playing with my friends next door and see dad come home from a morning of pheasant hunting, carrying his shotgun and a couple of birds.

It simply amazed me that that little red tube of paper with the brass on one end could kill something. After all it had such small little bb's.

I've been fascinated with ballitstics and firearms mechanics ever since.

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:47:25 AM EDT

[#13]

No, I was made one by slick willie. It was pretty clear to me that if that POS didn't want me to have guns... then I had best start doing some shopping.

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:48:03 AM EDT

[#14]

Led to the dark side by my best friend....who introduced my to shooting when I was 20 and he was 21....

Now I have all the cool toys.......

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:54:32 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
I have a photograph of me taken at age 3 and I have two six-shooters in holsters on each hip.
Eric The(WellArmed)Hun

Hehehehe!

Here's one of me from when we were at Ft. Riley, KS

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:58:20 AM EDT

[#16]

It would seem early influences have a great deal of cause/effect in this. My earliest memories are of my father going on various outdoor pursuits--mushroom hunting (morels), nut gathering, berry picking, squirrel hunting, deer hunting, etc. I remember when I was three just BEGGING to go along. I would throw myself on the floor, wrap my arms around his legs and just scream, "PLEASE LET ME GO--PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!" My dad would look at my mom and say, "Get him off me!" and she would drag me away. The only childhood playing I recall involved toy guns--"cowboy and Indian" and "deer hunting." My father started me in the woods at age four--nut gathering and mushroom hunting. I still remember the first morel I found--41 years ago. He took me squirrel hunting at age 5--and let me shoot his Sears Ted Williams semi-auto .22 afterward. My brother has that rifle now. He bought my first rifle from a guy at work--Remington Model 510 Targetmaster--at my age 12. I bought my first "deer rifle"--a Remington 742 like my grandpa's--at age 14, with my own money. I then bought a Winchester Model 1200 at age 15--I found it in a newspaper ad and rode my 10-speed to the next town (20 mile round trip) to buy it. Try that today!

Edit to add: We are working to get my brother's girls off to a good start. The youngest is three and already has her own Cricket. Here is the oldest shooting her Red Ryder and her Cricket:

Posted: 9/28/2004 9:59:08 AM EDT

[#17]

When I was little all I used to play with were Nerf guns with my friends(I suppose that didn't teach very good firearms safety hoot

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:09:28 AM EDT

[#18]

Late bloomer here too. I didn't fire any kind of real firearm until 18. Of course, that was only 2 years ago. I don't know why, I just decided to go get me a gun one day. Because of federal law handguns were out so I got a Browning 30-06. The collection is growing, added a .22 rifle and an AR15. Soon, a 1911 will be coming my way and some other stuff I haven't decided on yet. I never had any kind of parental influence for firearms, it just kind of appeared. MJD

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:16:21 AM EDT

[#19]

I was always interested in guns. When I was 8, I got a bb gun. (MY family always had a .22 pistol or rifle, but never went to the range).

Like driving, when I wanted to learn about shooting, I went to the library. I learned what breath and trigger control was at 10, even though all I had was a bb gun. I also learned how to straighten out a curve in a car at 10. (Learned to parallel park on a riding mower at 12)

The driving thing seemed more ingrained to me than throwing a baseball, which is 2nd nature.

WHen I was in highschool, I used to shoot with a friend in his back yard.

I joined the army over the airforce so that I could shoot more in basic training.

After I got out of college, and had a job, then the addiction hit.

I blame arfcom for the addicition. My predeliction for guns was ingrained.

TXL

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:18:24 AM EDT

[#20]

Born with it.

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:19:55 AM EDT

[#21]

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:25:12 AM EDT

[#22]

Yep

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:29:43 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
So who here was BORN a gun enthusiast?

Mom said I came out holding a 1911a1

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:32:28 AM EDT

[#24]

im more of a mag enthusiast

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:33:52 AM EDT

[#25]

Yes.

I have been shooting since I could hold a gun.

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:34:33 AM EDT

[#26]

Haha, dam straight. I use to build my own guns. Tubing some gun powder from fireworks and boom. What a blast. I was a dam pyro as well.. All at the tender age of about 6 by 10 I had moved upto bigger shit and after about killing myself I said... Jesus christ olyarms your an idiot.. That day on I never looked back at my shoulder, that mother fucker always talked shit to me the commie bastard and then my other shoulder. He figured he was funny shit so they would play jokes on me.

Like turning me around as quick as the could, and throwing me off of high place. Those two bastards.

I was a lonely child

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:34:53 AM EDT

[#27]

I got in trouble in 3rd grade for drawing pictures of Uzis firing full auto.

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:40:17 AM EDT

[#28]

Had I been able to shoot at a young age I probably would not be into it as much as I am now. But my parents would not let me have even a bb gun till much later in my youth, and my dad didn't give a crap about guns or shooting at all. So.... as soon as I was able to, I got into it and haven't looked back. Now my kids can shoot anything I have anytime they want, and I just about have to drag them with.....

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:43:03 AM EDT

[#29]

Born. Always been into firearms.

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:44:00 AM EDT

[#30]

I can't recall the first time I held a gun let alone shot one. They have always been a part of my life.

Had my first handgun at age 12, a Star PS 45 acp. A 357 Taurus model 669 @ age 14, a Glock 23 @ age 15.... IIRC, I had a 410 shotgun by age 11 a 20 guage Mossberg and a Winchester 94/22 by age 12. These were my guns, I kept them in my room in the closet or under the bed. I carried them when I was out in the woods or visiting my family. Hell, I had a pistol when I went bike/motorcycle riding through my hometown as a teenager.

I still had to borrow dad's Colt SP1 or the Springfield M1A until I got my own Bushmaster...

Sly

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:44:40 AM EDT

[#31]

I wasn't raised on real guns, but ever since I can remember I loved guns. I would make them out sticks, legos, left over scrap wood in the garage and a few nails. Always loved cap guns, had a scorpion type one once that took the long strip caps, you could snap 30 together and have a semi auto belt fed cap gun. Loved war movies and westerns. Always loved guns pretty much.

Posted: 9/28/2004 10:45:16 AM EDT

[#32]

I'm pretty sure I was born into it. Nobody else in my family is anywhere near the enthusiast I am. My earliest memory of being fascinated by guns was visiting my mother's uncle who had a gun cabinet full, and a couple hanging on a wall over his recliner, and a .45 easy to hand in the same spot. I loved that old guy and that house. I didn't really get into shooting until I turned 21, but I got a job as a security guard just so I could justify the purchase of a .357 Magnum.

I found out much later that some of my ancestors on my father's side were revolutionary-era gunsmiths. Kinda neat.

If I didn't need to make a living, I think I'd ditch my engineering job and become a gunsmith myself.

Posted: 9/28/2004 11:17:16 AM EDT

[#33]

Definitely born a gun nut. My family was (and still largely is ) anti-gun. I was "always different." At about 10 years old, I bought a copy of that huge Gun Digest book of guns, and would read it for hours. I had to hide it like it was porn, but my mother still found it -- and wanted to know "what is your fascination with weapons???" Hmmph, good question, mom!

Now I have a safe full of the things, a wife who also loves to shoot, and -- thanks in part to you all -- my very first ARs! On the way are 2 brand new Bushies with all the evil features! http://mindscraps.com/s/contrib/owen/smoke.gif

Posted: 9/28/2004 11:21:13 AM EDT

[#34]

Born!

The first concious visual image I can remember was my fathers gun rack with several M1 garands and M1 carbines in it. I can seriously remember wondering what they were as I looked at them from my crib. I must have been like like 6-9 months old but I can still remember it like it was yesterday...

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:02:02 PM EDT

[#35]

Aside from some minor Boy Scout shooting and a hand full of times in the Navy, I never had a firearm and didn't put too much thought into it. Then I got a very large tax return courtesy of the Hope Credit, and bought myself a USP on a whim about three years ago. It was the start of a powerful and costly addiction, which has lead me to my current state of eating canned ravioli and saving my pennies for another 1911.

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:29:07 PM EDT

[#36]

Guilty as charged.

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:30:22 PM EDT

[#37]

Yup.

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:33:24 PM EDT

[#38]

Yes. There are pictures of me as a kid dressed as a cowboy packing twin six-shooters(what American boy didn't?) I have pics of me as a kid holding my favorite toy gun, the Mattel Marauder.

And our house overflowed with guns when I was growing up. My Dad had a huge Colt collection that all fell into the Pacific Ocean.

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:34:23 PM EDT

[#39]

Never shot a rifle or gun until the military. Fell in love with guns and rifles. I love my AR the most.

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:35:59 PM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
I didn't own a firearm until I was 21 years old.

Late bloomer.

+1. Always liked guns, played with toy guns growing up, but didn't ever own one or even shoot one till I bought my first when I turned 21. Been in love with them ever since

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:45:06 PM EDT

[#41]

I am 35 now and been around guns all my life. My Grandpa and Dad both said if i ever misused a gun they would break it over my head!!!!

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:52:45 PM EDT

[#42]

Yes. I've always loved guns and had a deep affinity for them.

Posted: 9/28/2004 12:53:53 PM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:
I am 35 now and been around guns all my life. My Grandpa and Dad both said if i ever misused a gun they would break it over my head!!!!

ouch!!!

Posted: 9/28/2004 1:02:01 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I am 35 now and been around guns all my life. My Grandpa and Dad both said if i ever misused a gun they would break it over my head!!!!

ouch!!!

nope no ouch, never misused a gun! there was never a doubt in my mind what would happen if i did.