Honestly, is this weird that I had such access?
No, not at all.
What is weird is that people believe that abstinence from gun related items and words is the best way to make kids safe. It doesn't work with alcohol, drugs, sex, or violence. Why do they think it will work with guns?
I guess that today's parents don't remember the Saturday morning cartoon, "Knowledge is Power.'
I was 4 years old when I got a BB gun - it was a Daisy, held 50 rounds in a tube near the muzzle, had both a peep and V-notch sight, and was pump action, with a toggle-type linkage connected to the slide. I was too little to work it or even shoot it unless I tucked the stock under my arm, so Dad was always with me when using it; we shot it in the backyard. I kept it in my room . . . until I grew a little bit, and my mother saw I'd grown strong enough to cock it myself, at which point it was "stored" behind the side door.
At age 7 I got a .22 rifle, a Marlin bolt action of some sort - I want to say it was a Model 81C, but that was too long ago for me to be sure . . .
Around 11 or 12 I got an air pistol - a .22 caliber Crosman 38C, and a Colt Diamondback .22 with a 2 1/2" barrel at age 13 for 8th grade graduation . . . wish I still had it. Bought a Colt National Match .45 out of my own money at age 14. (Dad signed for it - uh oh, straw purchase! )
I can honestly say it never occured to me to take any of these to school or elsewhere and do something overtly criminal . . . but then, I wasn't prescribed Prozac, Ritalin, or Luvox either.
Duh. . . . Even in my home state of Texas it's illegal for a minor to have access to a firearm, a law which my family broke for several years apparently.
I'm a bit older than you, but I grew up in Chicago . . . connect the dots.