Ive been stung, it hurts, but it isn't too bad. Lionfish spines aren't as hard or as sharp as most people think they are, its not hard, but it isn't easy either to get stung. How much it hurts you really depends on your pain threshold, it didn't hurt all that much for me. I haven't been stung by a bee in years tho, so i can't really make a decent comparison between the two.
At work, when we sell lionfish, they go into bags just like anyother fish, and they lionfish never really poke through the bag. Treat them with a little bit of caution and you shouldn't get stung.
