Adding some fuel to the fire.... not on the caliber, but the typical lever action rifle...
I volunteer for the MN dnr teaching youth firearms safety and found a statement where the MN dnr recommends not starting new hunters with a lever action because of the potential accidents. I dont think they would say that if they didnt have stats to support it.
I teach the "woods walk" section on field day where the students carry break action single shot shotguns and get graded on their handling and a lot of these students struggle with the hammer lowering and its warm when we do it.
The cheap bolt actions that flood market make selecting a new lever action a tough sell and I would recomend the marlin because of how they handle the cross bolt safety.
