At what age did you purchase your first gun and have you had to use it in self defense yet?

Bought my first gun at 16 but my Dad gave me my first gun when I was 12. The gun I bought was a Ruger 10/22 when the first year they came out, my Mom was with me and it cost $35 new, now they are over $200. That was 55 years ago. I never used that gun in self defense but one time I had to lay a 12 ga. shotgun on the roof of my car when two very large natives approached my friend on the other side of the car as one had a large knife in his hand. They were wanting a ride to a ranch and I told them we were not going that way, when they got closer to my friend and I saw the knife I laid the shotgun on the roof of the car and re-iterated we weren't going their way. They backed off and went away. Good thing they didn't stab my friend as the gun wasn't loaded. We were on a duck and grouse hunting trip at the tine.