It was exactly this sort of kindness that sparked my curiosity and eventually got me into shooting.
If it hadn't have been for the kindness of my half-brothers while I was growing up, (one in particular who offered to let me hold a real AK when he saw me staring) my entire family and I would probably be anti-gun.
I'd been given a couple of Crossman BB/Pellet rifles as a kid, but I had become almost scared of real firearms because of the influence that my Kalifornianized uncle had on my family.
A little later in my life, I wanted to spend some time with my mother and also try to explain why I liked guns, so I took her with me to a local gun show. I will never forget the sight of my formerly anti-gun 60-something year old mother's eyes suddenly opening wide as she rushed over to the class 3 table (missing, in her excitement, the 'Do not handle signs') and picking up that full-auto Uzi, all the while excitedly saying "Oooh! What's this one? I like this one!". ARs, AKs, she likes 'em, all now, but she only really loves Uzis.
She’s going to get an SBR Uzi one of these days as a late/early Mother's Day present