What caused your interest in firearms?

[Southron]

Just wondering how most people here became interested in guns.

Did you grow up around firearms?

Or perhaps the "freedom movement" attracted you to them?

Fear for your personal safety from criminals?

Or maybe you still don't own any. Why do you choose not to?

 

[TRIGRHAPPY]

I got my first "firearm" when I was 5. I put firearm in quotations, because I got my first "gun" when I was a little younger. My first was a .22 benjamin pump pellet gun. I got good enough with it to shoot the heads off dragonflies that landed on our clothes line in the back yard with iron sights. Then my dad gave me my first firearm, a .22LR Winchester. I took that gun to hell and back and it served me well. Then my dad gave me an SKS......which got me through junior high/highschool. After I graduated, I joined the military. Now I carry a .45 on me everywhere I go........and I have a respectable arsenal at home.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

I learned to shoot at 11-ish as a boy scout and loved it...and still do!

 

[phill4paul]

Mom and Pop were never firearms holders. However, my mom was from Alabama and I learned about firearms from her relatives. They hunted and one Uncle open carried because in those days he could. I still remember when he made a check deposit in a bank with a six hung low w/o a second glance from the teller.
Those days are gone my friend.

 

[Athan]

Both growing up and the freedom movement. The Freedom movement simply help me understand the importance of having an armed populace instead of simply me being armed.

 

[Toureg89]

the subject of the question is also the answer: guns got me interested in guns.

have always had an affinity for things that go boom.

 

[RedLightning]

Never grew up with them, I've just always been intersted in them.

 

[Toureg89]

Never grew up with them, I've just always been intersted in them.

+1. never shot a gun in my life until 2 years ago (19yoa), but have always liked em.

 

[Gideon]

Yup!

Never grew up with them, I've just always been intersted in them.

I grew up in an anti-gun family, so I joined the Army and fired everything I could get my hands on.

 

[Barackistan]

I'm from a huge anti-gun, anti-violence background. My mom always told me to "avoid" conflict.

I found that there are some situations where you cannot "avoid" conflict. So I want a gun to defend against criminals. Unfortunately in the state of Illinois, they are pricks when it comes to gun laws.

 

[Pericles]

I grew up in an anti-gun family, so I joined the Army and fired everything I could get my hands on.

My family wasn't anti gun, just didn't have any, but thanks to my grandfather, the day I got a BB gun was a bad day to be a bug in my neighborhood. Later, when I was 10, he gave me his pellet gun and put me on squirrel watch in the middle of his fruit trees. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

So, I joined the Army and fired everything I could get my hands on.

 

[crushingstep7]

I listened to a Ron Paul speech on Youtube... the flare was lit and I was inspired.

I then started reading more about the history of the United States, and why our country came to be, and for what it came to be.

I then became MORE angry, and MORE bitter about the status quo. Things just aren't right. People just aren't right. What happened?

I then started reading about the misfortunes brought upon unarmed populations. Hitler being the popular one.

I then read about home invasions, robberies, etc. And hey! I live in a violent city. More crime per capita than any city in New York State. I should probably get a shotgun. And as soon as I'm 21, a concealed carry 1911.

And finally, all of that solidified my want to protect the citizen's God given right to bear arms, which is why I really have a firearm. The rest is rather unlikely, but tyranny is definite - just a question of when it'll need to be fought violently.

 

[psi2941]

when i figured our dollar is going to collapse

 

[BuddyRey]

I still don't have any handguns though, because I'm too afraid to get registered so that some FEMA goons can find my name on some centralized database.

 

[Pericles]

I still don't have any handguns though, because I'm too afraid to get registered so that some FEMA goons can find my name on some centralized database.

Used to think the same way. Then I decided

(1) I would be waiting a while for the opportunity to get exactly what I wanted. And you never need a weapon until you need one very badly.
(2) Given the number of 4473s out there, I am unlikely to be the first name on a list - I only buy one item from any given FFL dealer, so to get some idea of what I have requires some data analysis.
(3) If somebody actually thinks they can round up X million weapons, knowing there are X+1 million out there makes the task more difficult. Per Clauswitz: Quantity has a quality of its own.
(4) Try it. Given my training and experience, it will be at least a 3 for 1 trade. Given the number of ex-GIs and Oathkeepers out there, the number of "Special Agents" will be rapidly depleted to 0.

 

[Pennsylvania]

I came from a slightly less-than-fond-of-guns family. Mom was afraid of them, Dad has had wavering positions on "assault rifles", but did own a handgun previously. As for me, I think I was just born to like them.

"You've always had an obsession with guns" - my mom

I wouldn't call it an obsession, I just always wanted one, especially when I started playing Day of Defeat and Call of Duty. That's when it really kicked in and I fell in love with the German WWII arms. I still don't own any WWII-era rifles or anything, but at least I'm not unarmed. Oh, and I do credit the liberty movement for actually making me decide that it was an important enough issue to make a purchase.

 

[Koz]

I like to kill a lot of animals to keep in my freezer to eat. I kill a few deer with a bow every year too. I don't discriminate.

 

[Southron]

I guess I'll add my history as well.

I grew up hunting and using more working firearms. I never really had anything against semi auto battle rifles.

Then I read Boston's Gun Bible. He convinced me to arm myself seriously. I have to give him all the credit for that.

I highly recommend his book as a how-to in firearm ownership for fellow Patriots.

 

[Krugerrand]

I listened to a Ron Paul speech on Youtube... the flare was lit and I was inspired.

I then started reading more about the history of the United States, and why our country came to be, and for what it came to be.

I then became MORE angry, and MORE bitter about the status quo. Things just aren't right. People just aren't right. What happened?

I then started reading about the misfortunes brought upon unarmed populations. Hitler being the popular one.

I then read about home invasions, robberies, etc. And hey! I live in a violent city. More crime per capita than any city in New York State. I should probably get a shotgun. And as soon as I'm 21, a concealed carry 1911.

And finally, all of that solidified my want to protect the citizen's God given right to bear arms, which is why I really have a firearm. The rest is rather unlikely, but tyranny is definite - just a question of when it'll need to be fought violently.

I don't own one ... but this is exactly why I appreciate those who do. If I ever own a gun, this will probably be my primary reason.

 

[SerfByTheRoad]

The first time I shot a gun was on a Jeep trip through a desert in Arizona w/ my parents when I was around 6 yrs old. The guide had a .38 and when we were out in the desert she let anyone in the group shoot it that wanted to try. I wanted to, bad! She basically stood behind me with her hands over mine for safety and we took out some soda cans from 15 yards or so. I loved it and still remember it clearly.

Around age 8 I got a Red Ryder from Grandpa for Christmas. Within days I was shooting that thing instinctively. I could hit ANYTHING with it. Eventually, the "drop" of the BB at range became intuitive and I could just point and shoot quickly, hitting cans, tree limbs, or anything else like a pro! I remember running out of boxes of BB's and my dad would just be flabbergasted that I went through a small milk carton full of copperhead BB's that in a matter of weeks during the summer. I was buying "ammo" in "bulk" at age 8, HA! There must be tens of thousands of BB's around my parents' property.

I hope one day my kids will shoot that Red Ryder (I still have it; just a bit rusty) and will learn the same way. It's really amazing how well that little BB gun lasted over time without parts breaking.

Second time was at camp with rifles when I was 12 or so. I signed up for riflery and we shot .22's prone at targets with a sand dune backdrop. I dominated due to my Red Ryder experience. I went back to camp the next two years and took the class over again both time. I was hooked.