I had a .22 range in my back yard so as soon as I could hold a rifle still my dad gave me a bb gun at first then a more powerful air rifle. When I had become proficient with that he gave my first .22 at around age 8 or 9, a marlin 39c that I still have. I killed all my GI Joes with that gun LOL. At age 10 I started going bird hunting with my neighbor as his retriever, then at 12 I got my hunting licenses. With the hunting licenses my dad bought me 2 shotguns, A mossy 500 12g and a Browning BPS 20g and we started shooting clays at the Clinton WMA range. Between 12 and 15 I was introduced to high power rifles, The first rifle I shot other than a .22 was a 30.06 LOL. Was not until about 15 or 16 that I started shooting handguns with a friend in Florida. I was very lucky to grow up in NJ in a Pro gun household and in a pro gun neighborhood.  

Fort Dix 1968

Lackland AFB, then RAF Woodbridge, then with someone else's guns in the woods in PA, till I was able to afford my own

My brother inlaw taught me how to shoot when I was around 10 or so back in Michigan. I was shooting 22 rifle, 12 gauge shot gun and 357 revolver. Of course I was shooting the evil BB/pellet guns there too.  

My next door neighbor taught me how to shoot when I was around 8. We went back in the woods to an old bottle dump with a bolt action 22. Good times

I took a NRA First Steps class with Gun For Hire, and have been doing IDPA (and very recently USPSA) since. No prior experience with guns.

 

I'd like to take advantage of some formal instruction should I have the free funds and time.

Summer camp when I was 11 with some cmp bolt action 22 rifles that weighed like 16lbs. They didn't move when you shot them, but carrying them the three miles it took to get to the camp's range sucked. Made it easy to tell who really liked shooting by the end of the first week though.

Single-shot .22lr: 1968-71, at my NYC high school's basement range. Yeah, you read that right. 30 W. 16th St.

 

12-gauge shotgun: 1991- present, various wildlife management areas, hunting birds

 

Various handguns: 2012-present, Cherry Ridge (and a couple of indoor ranges)

 

Edit: Various bb guns, age 8-10, in my grandparents' back yard in Nassau County, NY

Single-shot .22lr: 1968-71, at my NYC high school's basement range. Yeah, you read that right. 30 W. 16th St.

 

12-gauge shotgun: 1991- present, various wildlife management areas, hunting birds

 

Various handguns: 2012-present, Cherry Ridge (and a couple of indoor ranges)

 

Edit: Various bb guns, age 8-10, in my grandparents' back yard in Nassau County, NY

some 2a groups ought to sue to have gun clubs at school in conjunction with local pd.  We had this when I was in 8th grade in Florida and it was awesome

some 2a groups ought to sue to have gun clubs at school in conjunction with local pd.  We had this when I was in 8th grade in Florida and it was awesome

Two friends of mine, one in Conn. and the other in Queens, recently related that they carried their .22 rifles on the bus in New Haven, and on the NYC subway system, respectively. We're talking 50-55 years ago. 

At a range in Arlington, VA circa 1969 (Mossberg .22, NRA Sharpshooter badge program).   Back then, things like that in VA weren't considered *evil*

In my backyard in Howell with a crossman 760 when I was six

First time for me would be during a camping trip with Boy Scouts that we dd every year. Forget how old I was and where it was but I remember I shot black powder, and also did some clay shooting. Place was awesome with the guns and people selling knives I was inlove lol.

 

Then I got back into it again 3 years ago when my dad got his handguns and rifles and I use to go to bobs in glassboro with him to shoot.