When I was 11 years old, (1964) I asked my dad if I could earn enough money that summer would he let me buy a shotgun. I knew better than to ask my mom, dad was a little softer in some ways. Dad said yes, mom found out later in the day and said no, I didn't want an argument (dad seemed to lose those more than win and this was important) I asked my Uncle Lewi to intervene and he told my mom that I was only looking at a little 20 gauge, not a full sized man sized 12 gauge. He explained to my mom that a 20 gauge was generally considered a "kids gun" a starter gun etc. I even showed my mom the difference in size in the shotgun shells. She finally relented, I raked leaves, weeded gardens, scraped a lot of lead based paint off of houses. (that explains a lot about my behavior
I ended up with a mossberg 20 gauge pump with 6 shots and the safety on top so if I ever had any left handed friends that wanted to shoot it they could. ( I only had one left handed friend) I wore that gun out, finally the barrel mushroomed when I was in my early 20's. My first wife got me a browning o/u 20 gauge, my brothers father in law was a gun dealer, and he got it in on trade. She saved up for months to get it paid off in time for next hunting season.