I will admit, the last time I held a gun, it *did* change my thoughts. It made me feel uncomfortable with the guys I was spending the day with. That was mostly because I realized that I could not chamber the bullet on the .45 by myself, and had to keep asking one of the guys to do it. That's really embarrassing--thought-changing, even.
Depending on the gun... you can probably replace a spring (or springs) so that it will be easier to chamber a round. I had to do that with one of my wife’s guns, after she just could not get comfortable with it. Now it is one of her favorites.