I totally respect their choice and will be making a similar one in the near future, for many of the same reasons, but a bit differently.
I sold my inherited firearms years back.. I mean what good is a bolt action .22 gunna do for protection in town, really, where I need to worry a lot more about securing my firearm despite living alone? It was a farm firearm, and now I regret getting rid of it because I want farm-space where a firearm will do me good.. so I’ll have to get another.. whoops. Should have just waited til I was older. On larger tracts of land, where you have warnings of people or animals approaching, it makes sense to have a firearm like that handy.
But I think another bolt action or similarly cumbersome rifle is about as dangerous as I want.. I’ve been at least passively suicidal my whole life (thanks, chronic pain!), but I can’t easily bite that bullet, flexible as I may be. :)
I have Navy expert marksmanship qualification, though. I had never fired a real firearm before that day, only airsoft or arcade light guns, did the training (and listened and followed directions) and have not since fired anything.