It was a Black AR-15... that is what they called it....I’m a female 5’2 about 110 and never fired a gun before..so it kicked pretty hard for me....and was loud!. I remember it well and wouldn’t shoot it again!...
I watched others fire it though....along with other guns they had there. It was interesting... I am of course not a gun enthusiast....but I do understand why many are and respect that.
Growing up our family belonged to a Hunting club....I recall the guns firing but kids were always kept at camp for the most part, not in the fields, so I wasn’t close enough to be acquainted with the use of them.
Well, young people not being acquainted with them is part of the problem. As to your experience, I can certainly see being startled by the volume; though the kick I expect would only be from it either actually being something else, or completely not being set for it in combination with being startled.
There are examples on YouTube of small 7-8 year olds doing just fine with them. Properly shown how to fire a rifle, I find it difficult to believe you’d have any recoil issue. The semi-automatic action reduces the recoil dramatically.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ttMuvmspa8o
While there are reportedly about 8 million actual AR-15s (a brand name), there are probably closer to 100 or so million rifles by other manufacturers which are essentially the same in regards the firing mechanism.