It's not so much that as they are exposed to movies where pistols are precision one-shot kills and not deafening and you don't have to hear the screams of the injured or dying after 20 seconds when the next scene begins. Much less the fuck they know the 'Assault Rifle' was in civilian hands since the late 1950's and semi-automatic technology and pistol grips and 30-round magazines are nothing new under the sun. But why would they want to learn? Guns are for the cops and military and the good guys versus the bad guys, and most of the time things turn out all right on film, so it must be the same in real life, right?

Also people who haven't spent much time in the country/wildlands have no idea what it is to face down an animal with that hungry glint in its eye. Experience is the mind-killer.