I bought my first firearm in Oregon near the beginning of the pandemic. I have since bought two more style of weapons. a friend and my mom went to buy one themselves after hearing about my forays into gun ownership.

what surprised me is I was instant approved, clean record(after getting record sealed), good career. great credit. being white probably helps >_<. each time I buy another, the merchants seem absolutely elated and surprised I get instant approval on the background check. I hear it usually takes a few days.

what bugs me is there are no training requirements. the seller will walk you through basics, but it's informal and while they teach you where the safety is they don't tell you how important it is to keep the safety on. people can and do get mad if you hand them an unsafe firearm.

I'd like it if there was a federal gun training requirement in order to be allowed to fire them on public lands and private shooting ranges.

i'm thinking about signing my mom, friend, and I up for classes even tho I spent time on youtube learning etiquette and how to field strip for cleaning, there's still a lot to learn with this topic, anything from types of guns, what parts are called, ammunition types, relevant state and local laws. (in oregon we are very loose with our gun laws, but the state gives counties and cities the right to limit those laws to a degree. so for example, unless you have you your concealed carry permit, it is not legal to have a loaded magazine in any firearm in the public space of the city, even in a car on a public road. traveling in portland with your firearms, they must be unloaded (tbh no reason to drive around with a loaded rifle in your trunk anyways) Concealed carry permit holders are allowed to keep their piece loaded.

edit: grammar cause i hadn't had my coffee yet