I grew up in San Antonio, Texas on rodeos and cowboy movies.

Easter Week at the Alamo -- 2001

The first record I ever owned was a '78' vinyl rendition of The Lone Ranger. The first movies I can recall were Lash LaRue and Hopalong Cassidy.

George Loper (far bottom right) with his two brothers and the daughters of a local Methodist minister

For some years, my favorite event was going to the rodeo to hear the singing cowboys. And my favorite Christmas present was a ping pong rifle which I carried around with me along with a fine pair of toy gun six-shooters and a Davy Crocket coonskin cap.

(Top to Bottom) Joe Loper IV with George Loper

As a boy in Texas, my older brother Joe IV was known to take pot shots at birds in the backyard with a bb gun. I would go out to the country for unsupervised target practice with friends.

As an Eagle Scout, I can still recall fondly the smell of gun cleaning oil, of taking a part a gun and putting it back together and supervised target practice.

Somewhere along the line, however, I gave up guns. Though my paternal grandfather had numerous deer heads on his wall, my own father never truly liked hunting. My Dad did own a .30-30 for a while, but mostly talked about not wanting to kill bugs bunny or bambi.

Once in a while in my adult life I have succumbed to the lure of skeet shooting, but for the most part I have lived gun-free.

The closest call I have ever had with guns is being stopped at a light in downtown San Antonio when the driver of a car came around me from behind and shot into the car in front of me.

In recent years, the closest personal contact I have knowingly had with guns is at semi-public events and friends' weddings and at a recent photo 'shoot' of Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Mark Warner (C-ville Weekly, June 19-25, 2001), where I was the only one willing to hold the gun.

The gun, itself, was unloaded.

(L-R) Rus Perry, George Loper, Ginger Greene, Kevin Lynch, Hoy Loper and Virginia Germino Photo by Jen Fariello

My younger brother John, however, who has remained down in Texas, has been known to enjoy a quail and pheasant hunt from time to time.

[L-R] Chris Miller, Dale Wilson, Richard Steinberg and John Loper

If you have stories about growing up with guns, please send them to george@loper.org where the most representative will be posted on my website with full attribution.