Quick note: if any mods for the Reddit sub end up here, shoot me a message, we'll see if we can figure out some way to verify your identity, and you're welcome to help moderate this magazine if it manages to take off.
About me, the current moderator of this brand spankin' new magazine: I was raised in a conservative, evangelical Christian sect, deconverted in my 20s, and now identify as an unaffiliated atheistic Satanist. A love of firearms was just about the only thing I retained from my prior life. I am solidly middle aged. I live in a deep red part of the rural south, in the foothills of the Appalachians, but I have lived in Chicago, San Diego, central Ohio, Michigan, and even eastern Idaho.
Politically, I am somewhere between anarchist and libertarian socialist. Having been involved to a degree in more anarchistic groups, I recognize that some kind of authoritarianism is really useful for getting anything done, but I still deeply mistrust authority in general. I oppose most gun laws that currently exist in the US on principle, while recognizing that they have a certain utility.
I am probably in the upper 5% of gun owners in terms of the number of firearms that I own, but since most gun owners have only one firearm, that's not saying a lot. I have a few antique rifles, a couple of very modern rifles, and a handful of pistols. I do not currently have a shotgun or any NFA items, although I have enjoyed skeet shooting in the past (first merit badge I got at summer camp!), and would like to get silencers in the future. I have not competed yet; that's on my list for this year. I am currently working on the physical conditioning so that I can do brutality matches and not get completely gassed. I reload when I can get primers.
I intend to work up to competing in class B in USPSA. Once I'm at that minimum level of competency, I plan on getting certified through the NRA as an instructor so that I can train--for free--marginalized people that want or need training. By "marginalized people", I mean specifically LGBTQ+ and sex workers, but also non-white people and women. (White men can get training anywhere and not have to worry about sexism or racism; I'm not concerned about people that look like me not having comfortable training opportunities.)
Personally, I'm most interested in 2-gun action matches and brutality matches. USPSA/IPSC/IDPA/SteelChallenge/etc. are ways to build my skills up to doing well in 2-gun. I'd love to do Cowboy Action Shooting because dressing up in costumes--and trying to be fully historically accurate!--and shooting appeals to me, but I just don't have the money lying around to get the firearms that I'd need.
I do not hunt yet. I do not have a problem with hunting for food, but I personally think that it's immoral to hunt for sport. I'm most interested in hunting feral pigs, which are a serious, significant problem in my state. Because there was no hunting tradition in my family, I never learned. I've taken the hunter safety course, but given the weird-ass restrictions and lack of public land in my state, I have not gotten a license yet. I am also not entirely sure where to start, since I have no experience tracking, etc.