SPOT ON.
I was an Army Rangemaster for over 2 decades & believe that a person’s FIRST firearm should be a double-barrel or pump shotgun AND that the new owner should get PROFESSIONAL TRAINING to store, maintain, load & operate their new shotgun SAFELY.
(MOST new owners will be COMPETENT with a double-barrel or pump shotgun with no more than 2-3 hours of PROFESSIONAL COACHING.)
AFTER they learn to use their shotgun SAFELY & believe that they NEED a handgun, I recommend a quality .38SPL or .357MAG REVOLVER, with PROPER PROFESSIONAL TRAINING for its use, too.
(MOST new handgun owners will need 8 hours of less PROFESSIONAL TRAINING with their new revolver, to be competent & safely use their handgun.)
Just my OPINION, TMN78247
USAMPR, Retired
“a person’s FIRST firearm should be a double-barrel or pump shotgun AND that the new owner should get PROFESSIONAL TRAINING to store, maintain, load & operate their new shotgun SAFELY.”
Your rules seem...I don’t know, outside my experience.
The first weapon I fired was a 12-guage. I was five. At least one of the older men around had come to Oklahoma in a covered wagon. We hunted rabbits and quail with shotguns and squirrels with 22s.
In JROTC at 13 I fired the 1911, the M-1, and the BAR under the supervision of active duty sergeants. As soon as I was 18, I ran right down and got a Marlin 30-30 lever action.
In the Navy it was 1911s, M-14s, M-60s, and the Browning M-2.
Three score and four years after my first experience, I still have not shot anyone accidentally.
I don’t really understand why professional training is required for safe gun handling. In my day, it was just something that men did, and elders passed it down to the young.