So what got you into firearms?

[Koshinn]

Hm. I shot air rifles since I was a kid, beer cans in the back yard as targets. I was on my high school air rifle team eventually. Also played airsoft in the late 90s and early 2000s with friends.

Shot center fire pistols and skeet/trap maybe once a year during highschool and college.

Owned my first gun while active duty... I went to a gun show one weekend with a couple of my LT friends and we ended up buying ARs. I'm too embarrassed to say the brand and model, but I soon sold it and got a Noveske. Things went down hill from there.

Some friends had to support a family with their officer pay. Others traveled or bought nice trucks. I blew paychecks on firearms and ammo. Something like $25k on just guns and accessories in 4 years, and I don't even know how much I've spent on ammo.

[Dioni]

Well, I'm a LEO in Brazil, has 13 years. I just love firearms.

[HKGuns]

BB Gun at 10
Ruger 10/22 & a .410 at 14

The United States Navy, 20 years old is when it got more serious.

[MoCop]

My Grandfather introduced me to firearms when I was about 10. When my family would go to his and Grandma's house, he would let me look at and handle his old Smith and Wesson revolvers. My two favorites were his Model 10 and Model 27. Good memories.

[Rhino8541]

Slingshots, BB guns, single shot .22 (still have it!) up from there. Hunting and spending time outdoors with my old man.

[AnthonyCumia]

Well, I'm a LEO in Brazil, has 13 years. I just love firearms.

Nice....

How are the ranges there?

[AnthonyCumia]

My dad is a 1956 Hungarian freedom fighter survivor and veteran. Grew up on guns since I was able to.


Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

What year did he come over in?

Brave man.

[GotAmmo]

What got me into guns?

Well I'm a guy and have always been interested, but I lived in Hawaii for 8 yrs and never had a need or ability to go thru their process

SO when I moved back to the states to Tacoma, Wa I still hadn't made a decision or still any interest in purchasing.

Up until 2009 when four police officers were gunned down in a coffee shop down the road from where I was living. That made me realize that I was not on Oahu anymore and the violence was a reality. So I went in on Xmas day that year and picked up a pistol for CCW

After that first buy, I've had the itch and cant stop acquiring

[sevenhelmet]

Unlike many on this forum, I was raised in a house with no guns. My parents are not rabid anti-gunners, but they didn't want guns in the house. Despite that (or perhaps because of it), I have always been interested in weapons of all types, along with engineering and mechanical things in general. As a pre-teen, I had to beg just to get a sping-powered Daisy BB gun. My justification was to shoot at the starlings that my parents considered garden pests. I asked for a .22, and got the BB gun. It didn't have the power to kill a bird, but sure I knocked a few out of the sky with it. As a teen, in Boy Scouts, I learned to shoot rifle, shotgun, and bow.

Fast forward to early 2008. I was freshly married, living in a semi-sketchy neighborhood, and my wife was concerned about a home invasion. Cue the first gun purchase, followed quickly by the second. From there, the rest is history: rifles, more pistols, and CCW. So I am less than 8 years "new" to the gun game, if only because I wasn't raised in a house where they were normal everyday objects. Having been in the military since I was 17, I find respect and proficiency for firearms to be an essential skill to teach to my kids. I've graduated from basic range sessions to USPSA and IDPA matches, and while I am not competitive, I am competent and safe. I recently bought my wife a pistol she is in love with, and she has taken a NRA-certified class for HD. My childhood is probably why I hate the idea of gun control so much- I have worked damned hard to be where I am and enjoy the freedoms I have. I am fairly sure most of you feel the same way.

I'm often jealous of you guys who grew up hunting and shooting. I started late, and didn't have the benefit of being comfortable around firearms from an early age. It's taken this long to build up my knowledge of guns and a small collection, including guns I will be proud to pass on to my kids. But in the big scheme of gun owners, I'm still a neophyte. You guys who had a head start were lucky.

[titsonritz]

It was dad's fault. About five.