I agree and disagree.
I too have owned guns, two rifles and a shot gun, at the time I had shooting rights on wooded land, my guns were tools which I used to hunt food.
This is true for very many Americans, their gun is a tool, in some regions it is also a necessary means of protection against dangerous animals.
For these people there deep cultural and practical reasons to own and use guns.
However, this is not the case for very many other Americans.
On the insistence of my father I learned to shoot at a military cadet range, were gun safety was literally drilled into those attending, as a young teenager the discipline and sense of responsibility ’drilled’ was part of the enjoyment.
Later I occasionally attended ‘civilian’ shooting clubs, this was an entirely different mix of experiences. Some were excellent, well managed and sociable, some were filled with very strange people ‘drilling’ on the politics of fear.
I gave up my guns when my kids were born, yes my guns were always under lock and key, the guns the bolts and the ammo all under separate locks, but guns around young children, no thank you.
As for a gun for self defense/home defense, I’ll go back to what I was drilled on.
If you feel you need a weapon (any weapon) to be safe in a place, don’t go there. It’s not like in the movies, you probably won’t get to your weapon in time and it will very likely cause you to stay put when you should be running.
Society needs to have a measured conversation on gun control, that can’t happen with extremists on both sides getting all the airtime. It certainly cannot happen while the gun lobby is permitted to buy the allegiance of politicians who should be acting for all citizens, not just the gun lobby.