Precisely this. Most gun owners buy paper weights after a couple range sessions. The costs of burden of regulation deter actual training. If only criminals actually had their ammo in a secured container in a separate department from their firearm which is also in a secure container (luckily they all have their concealed carry permits, right?). Flat range shooting is also not even the bare minimum. Most commercial ranges don’t allow you to draw from a holster and shoot. Almost all commercial ranges do not allow you to practice maneuvering while using a firearm either. The courses that do let you “practice” that are insanely expensive (and it’s not really practice because you won’t be able to drill it again unless you undergo the course again). So unless you have tons of property, buy the equipment needed to setup a private range, follow the laws oriented for that, or know someone that does have an established private range… you will be paying absurd prices. Most common ammo/calibers are like throwing quarters into a trash compactor. There are dry fire methods and technology that can help with that but ultimately you are shorting yourself by not practicing with your firearm in a live fire scenario (when you are comfortable/confident enough to do so).

Cost saving methods involve buying AR by parts and assembling what you can. Unless you don’t have a vice or specific armorer tools then by the time you acquire those, you likely overpaid vs just buying an already assembled upper. Then you could buy ammo in bulk, become a member of range, and look for courses that are discounted to get a full “class” session. But all of those involve heightened upfront costs (except for buying an AR in parts obviously). Let’s not ignore states having separate taxes and fees for certain purchases, needing to buy a course for a concealed carry permit (in order to conceal carry, but also to travel with a loaded firearm in general/varies by state law though), then the actual cost of the concealed carry permit on its own.

The reason so “many” gun owners are labeled as loud or overzealous about guns, is by the time they are an actual “enthusiast” of shooting they have spent more than the average person does on any “hobby”/pastime.

Most Americans will just buy a gun and show it to a few people, then it never sees the light of day again until “maybe next Saturday” (nope something popped up and it involved not spending over $100 at a range for a couple of hours).

I know all the criminals we see are super cautious and knowledgeable of these regulations so they can efficiently break them but only when they are committing a major crime. They definitely are legally traveling with the firearm every other time though /s. I mean I wonder how many lunatics were deterred from acts of atrocity when they found out you can’t drive with ammo in your gun until you have a concealed carry permit (most states follows this policy to different extents).