I too have lived with guns all my life; my father was a custom reloader/gunsmith (as a hobby) and I’ve probably forgotten more about guns than this twinkie ever knew.
Yet in all that time, I never saw guns as “violent.” Powerful, yes. Even the humbler .22 is capable of punching through a couple of Sears catalogs. But I wasn’t any more scared of guns than I was of my dad’s electric saw. And I never saw (!) either of them commit any acts of violence.
Fast forward 50 years into a culture that glorifies criminality and apologizes for racist thugs and suddenly guns are to blame for violent crime?
Yup, circular saw is one of the scariest things around. Damn near cut my finger off with one of those. Very careful now!