The National Rifle Association put out two simple questions this week on its Facebook page: “Who taught you how to shoot?” and “How old were you?” The posting got a massive response. Within only a few hours, more than 10,000 fans had responded, swapping stories and fond memories, as well as providing an interesting insight into how Americans learn to love guns. Vocativ went through the public responses and analyzed the data. Here’s what we found…
Dads are responsible for the lion’s share of gun instruction. It is important to note, however, that in nearly every other statistically significant category the instructor is male. While a few grandmothers made their way into the grandparent category, just about every other shotgun sensei was a man.
Now let’s break up those categories by the sex of the student. You’ll notice that the men are much more likely than women to learn outside the home. Women were taught by male family members at a rate of 89 percent.
About 60 percent of men learned before the age of 10, and 96 percent learned before their 21st birthday. The average age men were when they learned is about 9 years old, and no men admitted to learning after 30. On the other hand, we see a distinct trend of older Annie Oakleys. The reason for this is two-fold: Unlike the Boy Scouts, the Girls Scouts don’t teach kids to shoot, and many women are learning from their husbands or boyfriends, perhaps to create a shared leisure activity. Some couples golf, some shoot high-caliber firearms into hay bales or drawings of intruders.
And by the way, no one said they learned to shoot from TV, movies or video games.
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