I was raised 50/50 between my anti-gun mother and my gun-collector father. Being simultaneously raised to believe that guns are evil and nobody should own them but also here's how you fire a pistol and handle firearms safely also here's the reasons you should own one.

I was a whole ass adult before I was given a chance to form my own opinions away from my parents.

I love guns, I don't want to own one, I'll be purchasing one soon, I never want to use it, but target shooting is important so you know you can when you must, I don't want to carry it, but I live in a city with a severe mental health and drug abuse problem and frankly I don't care if there's a nonlethal way to deal with an attacker (I read enders game at 14 and it was a formative experience).

I have an opinion formed from contradiction, but balanced out it seems the points all land on "if you're responsible, and aim to never use the device unless absolutely necessary, it is an objectively good thing to own a firearm, at least where I currently live."

Oh uhh, I guess I missed the OG question, yeah I've fired plenty of guns.

Favorite to fire: Makarov, small, simple, low kickback, very accurate. Least favorite to fire: Idk what it was but my dads 2xBarrel Shotgun was fun to shoot skeet with but I wouldn't want one off the range, too much care involved in making sure my grip is perfect to brace against my shoulder. I don't eat meat, so the use case for a firearm like this is literally just sport.

The one I want: still deciding on brand but I'm planning on a hammer-less. 357+p