I am absolutely in favor!!!We should go shooting...
^^this^^My recommendation would be to get a Spyderco Sharpmaker or similar system. From what I understand, it will take quite a while for you to sharpen a knife as well freehand as a complete noob can do with a Sharpmaker. But of course there's no art to that. If you've got a little free time freehand sharpening is a pretty cool skill to have.
I bought my first Spyderco Sharpmaker in 1987... Still going strong and have a second one as a backup... Bought the Ken Onion version of the worksharp this year and like it but still find myself grabbing the Sharpmaker.
(If money were no object I would get a Wicked Edge but that is just not realistic in my "line of work" so I am fine with what I have.)