In answer to your question - yes. I've handled shotguns, rifles, revolvers and pistols. My dad gave me a shotgun when I was around 12, and I fired my first pistol at 14 or 15. Incidentally, that occasion was rather much like the study on what boys do when they find a gun - one day when everyone was out, I found the pistol in a drawer I had no business being in, and I loaded it up with ammo, went outside and tested it out. As far as I know, my dad never knew I had used his pistol.
But again, I consider practical experience with handling firearms to be of only limited value (I won't say NO value, but limited value) when it comes to evaluation of some of the societal issues. For that you need actual research. And yes, I know people lie with statistics, and often do, but statistics properly done will reflect the truth.
Sorry, but I don't agree. I think that the practical experience have had owning and handling firearms passed down from father to son, actually do count. There do exist cultural traditions regarding the carriage of weaponry, and firearms are no different. You don't have to be highly educated to know what part firearms have played in American history. You don't have to be an expert to realize if you mishandle a gun, someone is going to get hurt. What evaluation of the impact of firearms is really needed? It is not like these are a new invention, or the unfortunate results that occur through misuse. Everybody knows what they do. The right course of action is to simply punish wrongdoers. I don't need some expert to evaluate my guns out of society. And frankly, that is what some people want.
It's no secret that a firearm is a weapon. Like any tool, it can be used properly, or misused. I reject that there is some secret tragedy lurking behind firearm related tragedies, that needs to be brought forth through statistical analysis. I also reject you have to be an expert to see whether the general ownership of weapons itself is deleterious or if is the bad actions of people that brings harm.