When I was 12 (and I’m not that old) a bunch of us kids would go out to the woods where we built a big earthen berm to blast cans with one of the boy’s Dad’s shotguns.
Maybe that’s the difference. No one is going to try to kidnap kids carrying 20 gauge shotguns.
Yep! I know no one even THOUGHT to bother me as I was toting my Ruger .22 around with me everywhere I roamed—and boy did I ever roam!