I've never owned a gun, but I've fired a gun a handful of times, starting with the Boy Scouts. I shot a .22 on a range with rigid supervision - every motion made on direction of the supervising "commander", as we regarded him, being mere babes. I kept the target for many years, but I don't know where it is now. It could be in my basement! I think on the same occasion of a week long campout, I shot skeet with a .22 gun and hit 2 of 6, IIRC.
Anyway, it was all enough to make me a gunner, in spirit if not practice.
Shooting is a great discipline and I'm glad that I was introduced to it when I was young. By the time I was 12-13 I was going down into the basement by myself to shoot off a box of 50 rounds regularly and I took it deadly seriously. Probably the first activity that I approached with a, more or less, "adult" frame of mind. I learned breath control, patience, a systematic approach to safety and to improving my skills, etc. The NRA marksmanship program for youth and adults is first rate. When young folks are introduced to shooting early they tend to view firearms with the respect and caution that they deserve.
I was lucky to live in a house with a basement that had over a 60' clear and open space. I could shoot the 50' target curriculum for rifle and pistol. My father had it fitted out with a couple of big old fashion bullet traps and great lighting. The targets were right under the laundry where the back door was and where the dogs slept. When a .22 hit the steel bullet trap it would ring like a bell, a very loud bell. The dogs upstairs would levitate about two feet off their beds into the air. Probably accounts for why our toy poodles always seemed so anxious.