Yes it is a little like the wild west in the countryside you will see people with a pistol in their belt and no one cares
I'm comfortable around guns. I've been a gun owner for 40 years, & also was a competitive shooter & instructor. I rarely meet someone who is reckless with firearms. I meet reckless drivers every time I go anywhere & I'm more worried about them.
My experiences have been very similar to yours, shot 4 position smallbore competitively, instructed for a while, etc. However, after 2 1/2 years working as an RSO at a very busy indoor range after I retired, I confess to now being quite nervous around anyone handling guns. I can’t say I’m ever “comfortable” around a firearm. From the inexperience of the novice to the complacency of some life long shooters, to the arrogance of some of those in between, I just got to see a bit too much.
That's the real issue. To me it feels like we live in a gasoline world and a few idiots want to prance around with lit torches dangling from their belts. See a gun on a belt? Slowly back the other way, just as you would coming up on a bear in the trail ahead. Unpredictable, volatile, and dangerous personality ahead. Probably mentally ill to boot. Sorry, just my sense of self-preservation and experience.