I've owned firearms for over 30 years now when I got my first rifle at 8. I'm more into rifles than pistols but am interested in more training and maybe friendly competition to get better on the pistol side of things.
As far as politics, I grew up in an extremely conservative west Texas ranching community of about 800 people and was brainwashed into that world. It took joining the Navy, working with other cultures, races, etc and a lot of years to get over that. My wife grew up in the PNW and Japan, and she did not have the same experience. Anyways, we're both pretty progressive when it comes to social issues.
If you read all this, you're the best