# Who Influenced You Most?



## Pistolero (Mar 6, 2009)

Specifically, who (or what) was your biggest influence in making the decision to arm yourself? Was it dad? A crazy uncle? A bad azz grandmother? An event in your life or the life of a friend? A casual acquaintence? Military/Police service? Your wife?! (LOL!) Please elaborate.


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## webdevtj (Mar 16, 2009)

It was my dad and grandfather. My grandfather was a cop for 35 yrs and US Marshall for 14. After that, the violence, poor policing, and a general desire to protect loved ones as well as myself...


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## unpecador (May 9, 2008)

The criminal element of American society, specifically those who are inclined to do bodily harm to people.


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## xjclassic (May 15, 2008)

I did not become a gun enthusiast out of fear from local crime. I have had a love affair with guns since I was a small child. Nobody in my family has any interest in guns yet I can remember buying issues of gun magazines when I was 4 or 5 years old. I have been involved with shooting my whole life but mostly competitive archery as a child because my father also shot as a hobby. Did not start shooting long guns more until I was a teenager and did not get into handguns until much later in life. 

Even if I lived in a town with zero crime I would still own and shoot handguns along with long guns for the pure enjoyment. This being said it is my choice to carry a weapon based more on excersising my right as a gun owner and less on fear.


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## Pistolero (Mar 6, 2009)

I've had a love affair with firearms since I was a child of nine in Tucson, AZ. I was introduced to guns by my Sunday School teacher, of all people! Our class members used to go out into the desert on random weekends (typically not Sundays) and shoot milk cartons and cans and small items balanced precariously on jagged desert rocks. I think my fascination with handguns began after my 21st B-day when, instead of getting drunk with buddies, I decided to apply for my concealed carry permit (Washington State). The rest is history. I now prefer handguns because I enjoy the challenge. None of my family members condone my decision to keep and carry firearms on a regular basis. I often feel alone but I aim never to lose the right to do so. It's one thing I don't take for granted about being an American.


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## BeefyBeefo (Jan 30, 2008)

I've always had an interest in guns, ever since I was little (particularly handguns). I remember getting handgun magazines when I was little, as well.

My desire to carry comes from growing up in Chicagoland....


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## DevilsJohnson (Oct 21, 2007)

I've liked and wanted guns as far back as I can remember. I shot every time I got a chance. My Dad taught me about how to respect and handle a weapon but we didn't shoot all that often. I started getting rifles mostly and got a lot deeper in it when I turned 21. When moving from Ohio to Kentucky I sold all my guns except for a shot gun and was fine with that until I got the itch to shoot again a few years later. I've collected ever since.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

I just looked around, one day, and realized that there are a heck of a lot of people out there who could kick my butt, if they should take a notion to do it, and I refuse to live my life being afraid of such an occurrence. 

I have been in fights before, in my younger days, and I didn't win all of them. So, it's possible that I might actually take a beating, now, rather than draw a gun...if I didn't think my life was in jeopardy. But I will not be maimed or killed, without a fight, and I won't stand by and see family or friends abused.


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

I, like many, have just been drawn to guns since I was a kid. I really got hooked in high school by a friend that shot a lot. Then I became friends with another guy in high school who's uncle owned a gun store, and he worked there, so I'd go and hang out all the time and play with the guns. The fact that when I was living at home the kid next door was a drug dealer with all kinds of creeps coming and going, was a minor influence as well.


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## literaltrance (Dec 24, 2008)

Hrm, this question can be answered two different ways.

My father was definitely the influence in my becoming "an armed citizen." Being a former military man...if there is such a thing...he taught me everything I needed to know about safety, storage, and care while having firearms in the house....not so much how to shoot them well though! It's too bad he doesn't come here; I'd get a kick out of him reading this.

Now, being an armed citizen away from the house, aka a concealed-carry citizen, well that was definitely the influence all of the crazy bastards who inhabit the world. It all started with the VA Tech shooting. This hit home because not only was I Korean, but the guy looks a LOT like my brother. After wrestling with the idea of packing for the weeks which followed VA tech, some nutso shot up my county's city hall, killing 6 people including some LEs and the mayor. This happened a few blocks from my house in a neighborhood spotted with some million dollar homes, soccer mom joggers, family dog walks, and two elementary schools. That was the final straw. It finally dawned upon me that violence can happen anywhere and I'm the only one I can rely on if my life is at risk.

[Edit] Correction, the mayor was shot twice in the head but thankfully survived and is now back at his post. Good for him.


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## Spartan (Jan 1, 2007)

John McClain.

"Welcome to the party, pal."


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## knoxrocks222 (May 1, 2008)

my dad....he has been a police officer since i was 6 (im 22 now) and worked for the FBI for about 4 years, ever since i first shot his 4 inch S&W model 66 police issue when i was about 7 i was hooked, later that year they were re issued a glock 17, and after shooting that iv grown up shooting the glock which is what i now trust my life with every day. G27 .40cal


knox


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## JackCrow (Mar 10, 2009)

I was brought up around firearms. My father taught me to hunt and how to handle rifles, shotguns and handguns. I learned early on that the world is often an ugly and dangerous place and I have faced men from both ends of a gun. I came to realize that it is far better to risk being a killer than to be a victim.


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## akr (Mar 8, 2007)

The news.


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## IndyRob (Oct 2, 2008)

I always had a pellet gun growing up, but for the most part our home was gun free due to 7 kids and living in Chicago.

I grew up, moved out and for 18 years I hadn't thought about guns much at all, I even turned down a position with the CPD (Ex wife didn't want to leave the burbs). Well I got divorced, met a girl from Indiana (Purdue Grad Student) and moved from Illinois to Indiana.

I sold my trucking business when the cost of fuel skyrocketed, repairs on my aging fleet got to be prohibitive, and I had serious complications from a botched gall bladder surgery.

I went back to selling tools, but was pretty unhappy about it when out of the blue my Father in Law takes me for a ride one Saturday morning. We end up at a gun store where Dad buys 2 S&W's and go to the range, I apparently impress him with my shooting because he hands me one of the new guns and asks if I ever thought about becoming a LEO:smt023

I started my 3rd? career August 08, and now own multiple firearms.


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## veloom (Mar 11, 2009)

For me it was a combination of general interest in guns, the area I live, and the recent news.


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## gmaske (Jan 7, 2008)

I was around guns as a kid mostly when I visited my Grandmother and the clan that hung around her. The clan sorta took me under their wing and showed me some of the basic ropes. At home I wasn't really exposed to guns but I just took to them naturally. It just kind of happened. Now that I'm a mostly stove up old Plumber I got to figuring I was a pretty easy mark so I got my CCL and started packing when I feel I need. There has been a new surge in gang activity around here so I'll be packin a bit more.


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## I'mStrapped (Nov 21, 2008)

I live in the hood and used to work graveyard in a town a half an hour away. For my lunch breaks I often went to the Indian casino because it was the only thing open at 3:00 AM. Around the holidays one year a 3 or 4 of the Natives decided to beat a pacific power lineman to a vegitative state for leaving his family in the middle of the night to fix their power. They didn't want a white guy there. I'm a pretty strong guy and can take care of myself, but when there is the potential of having several attackers its nice to have an equalizer.


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## Razorback58 (Mar 20, 2009)

I grew up around guns, but it was "Uncle Sam" that made me truly love them! I kind of lost that interest until "Uncle Sam" got my oldest son interested. Now this is one more thing that we can do together, which I'm always grateful for.


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## Ptarmigan (Jul 4, 2008)

I had never shot a handgun until I was required to carry one at work. My first duty weapon was a Smith & Wesson model 67. I enjoyed my firearms training a great deal and soon discovered that my skills as a shooter was above average compared to the other officers. I later had to switch over to a semi-auto sidearm and got a Glock model 22. I later became a firearms instructor and eventually completed course in handgun, shotgun, and patrol rifle instruction. I served as a department instructor and also as an adjunct instructor at the state academy, something I enjoyed a great deal. My last duty weapon was a Glock 19.

I can't really say that a person influenced me, but my law enforcement training and experiences certainly did. I still carry a gun most of the time in public, and as a retired police officer I have the privilege of doing so in all fifty states, which is great for driving vacations and such. 

I still own, and sometimes carry, a Glock 19, but the majority of the time I count on the good old .38 Special and carry a Smith & Wesson model 640.


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## Buffal0 (Mar 17, 2009)

I got influenced when my 6th grade teacher taught us about the Nazis. Don't take that the wrong way, he taught us history, not the practice of it :smt023

But seriously, we spent a good week or two on the mechanics of a Luger and the snailshell design. We went into great detail on the MP44 and lots of others. From there I just couldn't get enough of it. I have always wanted a real Luger. Just to have and be able to fire one. I have always liked guns since then. I dunno why, I just have. I have liked learning about the mechanics and stuff of guns. 

They are also fun to shoot 

I remember the first time my dad took me out with a .22 revolver and a 12 gauge and just told me to do my best at a target. Needless to say the 12 gauge kicked my ass. Haha


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

That would be my grandfather. I remember as a kid every time he went out the door he put on a S&W model 10, and went leaving home it was that model 10 and a 12 ga shotgun. His first job was a muleskinner and he bought the shotgun he carried all his life. After he pasted away I was lucky enough to get that shotgun and it hangs in a place of honor along with a picture of him on a mule team.


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## TheReaper (Nov 14, 2008)

Father and Grandfather. They gave me guns and made me learn how to shoot .


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

Running gun battles between Illegal's on I10 between Phoenix and Tucson plus everyday kidnappings or home invasions and Marijuana farms in the forest where I hunt and now live combined to cause me to carry 98% of my awake time.

I plinked and hunted most of my life.

Stay safe.


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## mactex (Jan 23, 2007)

I've been shooting all my life, but what the influence that caused me to arm myself for self-defense were the 3 twirps who scared the stuffing out of my wife when the tried to break into our back yard.


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## biohazurd (Mar 12, 2009)

I really have no idea why i got into firearms, My parents have never been big gun people and the only gun we ever had growing up was my dads old 12g he use to hunt with. My mom hated guns, scared to death of them. I just really fell in love with firearms in my teens and that love has never left me. Plus i refuse to be one of those victims you hear about in the news...


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## Spartan (Jan 1, 2007)

One of my buddies in college. My parents were never too into guns; I've convinced my mom (and have carried when she and I go out sometimes, and honestly, 99% of the reason I carry isn't for me but to protect my close family... if something ever happened to one of them and I knew I could have done something to help/ save them and didn't, I couldn't live with myself... but that's another topic.) but my dad still hates them, so owning one while living at home was not allowed. Then I moved away and went to college where worrying about where I'd get the $ to eat was a little more important than buying a gun. 

One of my friend's dad was a LEO in Dallas a number of years ago, and I would go with them a couple times. After I graduated and was working for a year or so, it was time for my dream gun, the 92FS.

Funny thing is, I was friends with this dude for like a year or two before I ever knew he was into guns. He just happened to see a Beretta brochure at my apartment at school one time and the rest is history. :smt033


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## nky1129 (Nov 3, 2008)

For me it was a combination of things. I was forced into the Jehovah's Witnesses from birth, so guns were viewed as if they were the devil himself. Even television shows that had guns in them were prohibited. Always loved guns though. My brother and I used to ride our bikes over ten miles to my cousin's house because his neighbor had BB guns and would let us shoot them.


Fast forward 29years. I'm 10 years removed from the "cult", and after reading and hearing about several home and car break-ins, I decided to make sure that I was prepared in case that happened to my girlfriend and me.

In all honesty, I probably would have waited a little longer to buy if I hadn't been warned about the "Obama Effect".


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## ZO6Vettever (Mar 30, 2009)

I carried for a while about 35 years ago, mostly on the job and stopped because I changed jobs and didn't need to anymore. Now that I'm too old to defend myself and the thugs have gotton so out of hand I got another permit. After 5 gansta' types eyeballing my wife and I at a overnight motel I decided the old 6 shooter was not enough so I went for a 16+1 9mm for daily carry. My wife is in the "thinking about it" stage, it's only a matter of time and she'll start to pack. It sucks to even have to think about being a victim but it's a reality.


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

nky1129 said:


> For me it was a combination of things. I was forced into the Jehovah's Witnesses from birth, so guns were viewed as if they were the devil himself. Even television shows that had guns in them were prohibited. Always loved guns though. My brother and I used to ride our bikes over ten miles to my cousin's house because his neighbor had BB guns and would let us shoot them.
> 
> Fast forward 29years. I'm 10 years removed from the "cult", and after reading and hearing about several home and car break-ins, I decided to make sure that I was prepared in case that happened to my girlfriend and me.


So did the Witnesses find out about your little BB gun escapades and shun you? :smt033 My MIL converted to be a Witness about 15 years ago (and tried and failed miserably to get others in the family as well) so I definitely know what you mean about the "cult".


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## Growler67 (Sep 8, 2008)

I've always been interested in firearms, though none were around when I was growing up (unless you count a BB gun). Not to get into a long history of my experiences with them I was probably most influenced to make my CCW application by:


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## ECHOONE (Dec 10, 2008)

My Great Uncle Sam!


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## Pistolero (Mar 6, 2009)

Growler67 said:


> I've always been interested in firearms, though none were around when I was growing up (unless you count a BB gun). Not to get into a long history of my experiences with them I was probably most influenced to make my CCW application by:


Excellent video -thanks for that post.


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## rccola712 (Aug 26, 2008)

ive always had an obsession for blowing things up, and shooting guns definitly falls in that category. but it wasnt till i got into college that i really started to focus on guns, and hopefully ill be getting my 1st handgun as soon as i turn 21


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## Waffen (Feb 8, 2006)

I would say my Dad but not because he taught me quite the contrary. He was a WWII, Korean and Vietnam vet. Rarely spoke of the wars, guns or politics and never had one in the house. So I think because he never discussed guns and considering his profession, it made me wonder what they were all about. So for the last 40 + years I been investigating. He passed away in 1995 and I still don't know his thoughts.


W


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## Bob Wright (May 10, 2006)

Pistolero said:


> Specifically, who (or what) was your biggest influence in making the decision to arm yourself? Was it dad? A crazy uncle? A bad azz grandmother? An event in your life or the life of a friend? A casual acquaintence? Military/Police service? Your wife?! (LOL!) Please elaborate.


The times in which I grew up. Many of my relatives lived on farms, and hunting was a way of putting food on the table. Coupled with this, several of my uncles were WW I veterans, trained in use of the rifle. And cowboy movies, in which the good men wore white hats and the bad men wore black hats, clear distinction between good and evil. And, WW II was in full swing.

I can remember going to a War Bond Drive display in downtown Memphis. There a Model 1911A1 pistol was displayed, with the notation that this pistol cost three $25.00 War Bonds. I had FOUR! Greatly disappointed to learn that was not an offer to sell.

And, my Daisy Red Ryder Handbook!

And, Ken Maynard's performance at a local rodeo set me on the road to becomiong an exhibition shooter, a goal I never achieved.

Bob Wright


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2008)

I would say that a combo of my dad and my girlfriends dad. My dad never wanted me to have them or know anything about them. That made me want to learn and have them more.
My girlfriends dad was the one who actually introduced me to guns, and was very strict about safety first.


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## Oldman (Apr 16, 2009)

*Many things*

My father always had a handgun close by. He was a businessman and felt the need to carry in the car and on his person. I was taught to shoot handguns starting at the age of six. My first long gun to shoot was a 20 ga side by side Stevens at the age of 11.

A lady my father was building a house for gave me my first shotgun when I was 12. I was given a .38 special S&W at age 16 by my father.

Back then, the parents took an active part of the proper safety and instructional use of firearms.

Now people buy them and just leave them laying around the house for the young to find and fire. So sad that many lives are lost and injuries sustained by the lack of education.


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