YES, the game is way more gun-friendly and getting shot from off-screen is something that happens way too often. This is primarily why I enjoyed the first game's gameplay more. Pretty much why I couldn't play with a risk = reward mindset like I did in the first game, going for combos based on speed. There's so many guns that you have to be extremely cautious.
Yeah the story is all over the place so you really need to pay attention, like I didn't catch the first time that the final level was The Son going on a drug-fueled rampage, killing The Fans in the process. Only thing I really didn't understand, even when it was all said and done was why Evan (the writer) had that "Rage Mode" if you executed two people. He just didn't seem like that kind of person to lose it like that.