The first firearm that I used was also a single shot .22 Cooey and it was on the range of (Scout) Camp Tamaracouta, in the Laurentians north of Montreal and our instructor was an ex Captain in the VanDoos.We lived on a farm, my first firearm was a .22 cooey single shot.
I was 8 or 9 at the time.
After the usual instructions on safety and how to use it I would be given one single bullet and if I came back with a rabbit or a partridge I would get another one....If I missed I would have to skip a day.
... no screwing around with that guy watching you, boy.
I always had highly disciplined firearms training, wherever I went which may be why I feel that very few members of the public are properly qualified to even touch, let alone carry firearms.