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I wouldn't call my experience a "conversion", but rather a series of realizations.

I've never been anti-gun, and have relatives who are avid hunters. I myself did some bird hunting on family farmland when I was in my teens. I always maintained that people had the right to own guns, but it was never really for me. I did want a shotgun, so I could have my own when hunting with family.

Sometime in late 2006, I started planning a summer wilderness trip across Gates Of The Arctic National Park in Alaska. This area is as wilderness as you can get, with no one for over a hundred miles in any direction in parts of my planned trip. I started researching, and found the pressing need to have a gun on my trip, in case of bear attack. In my research, I was gravitating towards an ultralight Taurus .44 revolver. I happened to meet a person who has now become a good friend. He used to own a gun shop and range and helped me in my search for an appropriate weapon. He immediately recommended a rifle in favor of a handgun, especially for an open environment like the arctic against an animal as ferocious and hardy as a bear. My trip was being planned 2 years in advance, and I decided that if I was ever going to need a gun, I had better know how to shoot, and shoot well.

My friend took me to the range, and we fired a selection of handguns, and then some rifles. I shot his K31 and was immediately hooked. I looked online for a good reliable rifle, and happened upon the Mosin-Nagant rifles on the AIM Surplus website. They were such a good deal, that I went ahead and bought two - an M44 and a 91/30. I was now a gun owner, something I would never have predicted a few months prior. I got a pistol the following month - an FEG PA63 in 9mm Makarov. While my true shooting passion is for rifles, I had lots of fun with this little gun. This is about the time I joined this forum, after having been recommended that I join by Greybeard over on THR, when I started asking CHL questions.

I have various reasons for my decision to get my CHL, but the biggest one relates to events that transpired when I was young. My mother was abducted at gunpoint on her way home from work when I was 5 years old. She was taken out to the desert, raped, beaten, strangled, and then shot in the head multiple times by her attacker. Knowing that carrying a handgun can make the difference between life and death in such a situation was the ultimate decision-maker for me. While I hope to never face such a situation, I wanted to prepare myself so that I can be prepared to prevent the same horrific loss to my family that transpired when my mother was murdered.

Beyond the more serious reasons for becoming a shooter, the realization that shooting is really a fun and even therapeutic activity is what keeps me shooting. Exposure to what shooting is really like is what got me into this in the first place. Since I started shooting, I've seen people who had an aversion to guns simply because they're "scary" and "dangerous" turn around and really enjoy going to the range, simply from exposure to what shooting is really like. Even though I had no explicit prejudice against guns before I started shooting, I see I carried the same prejudice of ignorance that I see in those around me who have never shot, and then see it disappear when faced with the realization of what a fun activity shooting actually is.

I took my CHL class in early March, and got my license in early May. I now carry whenever possible, and my pistol has become as much a part of my attire as my normal clothing.