I've owned my 9mm for 4 years without ever firing it, finally got up the courage to go yesterday and take a beginner class. Had a pleasant time, cleared away some anxiety. Turns out I'm actually not half bad.
Noticing that this community isn't getting much traffic, is there anywhere else folks are hanging out?
Eh, we're a minority in both "liberal", and gun circles. You tend to have to find low activity online communities, or be willing to travel a good bit to have people of a similar mindset to talk to. Bigger cities tend to have a higher chance of a decent shooting club or other group, but you'll still run into issues finding friendly ranges. Neutral for sure, but outright friendly is rare. It's usually people meeting up at private property in my neck of the woods (literal woods lol).
Reddit used to have a couple of decent subs, but one got taken over by right wingers pretending to be left-ish. The other is in the same shit state as reddit in general, overwhelmed by bots and toxicity.
socialistra was a good busy sub on reddit, but I don't know if it's still going on over there. There's one here somewhere but it isn't very active. Anyway, good for you for getting out there with your weapon and practicing. Try to take some like-minded friends with you next time. If you don't already have one, consider getting a laser 'trainer' cartridge. You can sit around your house and practice things like trigger pull and aiming with both eyes open.