Very good point Johan! It's to our interest to get our kids involved with the shooting sport, plinking or hunting, etc. so they don't get into trouble doing "other things".
I actually started when I was 11 but my parents didn't allow me to play witb BBguns either. A friend of mine had a nice black springer pistol which was his dad's. He was 12 and I was 11. I 'd go over to their house and we 'd shoot into a log (no soda cans then, only bottles) in the back yard from like 8yds away. We made sure we only shot like 15-20 pellets so he wouldn't notice any of them missing. Well after doing this for like 3mos we used up like 2/3 of the tin and he did notice! :)
I went without an airgun for about 2yrs when 1 day when I was 13, my uncle bought my cousin a .22 CO2 revolver (It looked like a Colt 45 6-shooter from the Old West). I 'd go over their house and shoot and when I turned 14, there was a sale at a local Service Merchandise store (what happened to them, did they go out of business?) and convinced my mom to buy me the 760 for $34.95. I told her that if I get in trouble with it, she can give it to my uncle.. My diplomatic skills were at their best when I wanted something very badly, hehe.. We kept it a secret from my dad for almost a year! :-) When he found out we explained to him that I was just target shooting with my friends and he was ok with it and let me keep it but said he wasn't real happy about me "plaing with guns". He had served in the military and had seen an accident where someone got shot and another guy died from a grenade during exercises. I think that's why he wasn't in favor of guns in the house. Then some CO2 pistols followed (Shiloh 1861 was my favorite!), a 66 Powermaster which I still have, etc. and when I turned 18 I got into firearms but never lost my passion for airguns. I have sold almost 1/2 my firearms now to buy more airguns :-)
