Tactfully telling someone their gun handling is awful?

[rhino]

A little over 20 years ago, a close friend of mine was looking at a Glock 20 I had just purchased and for some reason he pointed it toward me and dry fired. He said he was pointing it over my head, but it looked like it was pointed at my face. I yelled at him for quite a while and he was suitably contrite. We're still good friends, but he'll never do that again.

When it comes to tools that can end lives in a moment, I don't think we have the luxury of waiting for a good time or formulation of the most tactful response possible. When someone is unsafe with a gun your presence and it's a friend, I think you're even more obligated to correct them immediately that if it were a stranger.

Given that, it can be done sternly without being rude or emotional. "Stop, put the gun down now, we need to talk" shouldn't hurt someone's feelings (at least for very long). Anyone who points a gun at someone (including their own body) needs a reminder that they must not point a gun at someone or something they do not intend to shoot for any reason and whether or not they think it's loaded/unloaded is immaterial.

 

[IndyTom]

I had to have this conversation with a family member last night. Apparently they didn't value their abdomen or hand and I had to point it out to them.

 

[Thor]

A little over 20 years ago, a close friend of mine was looking at a Glock 20 I had just purchased and for some reason he pointed it toward me and dry fired. He said he was pointing it over my head, but it looked like it was pointed at my face. I yelled at him for quite a while and he was suitably contrite. We're still good friends, but he'll never do that again.

When it comes to tools that can end lives in a moment, I don't think we have the luxury of waiting for a good time or formulation of the most tactful response possible. When someone is unsafe with a gun your presence and it's a friend, I think you're even more obligated to correct them immediately that if it were a stranger.

Given that, it can be done sternly without being rude or emotional. "Stop, put the gun down now, we need to talk" shouldn't hurt someone's feelings (at least for very long). Anyone who points a gun at someone (including their own body) needs a reminder that they must not point a gun at someone or something they do not intend to shoot for any reason and whether or not they think it's loaded/unloaded is immaterial.

Yeah, that's sort of like saying "I'm just testing the jack's up/down selector to see if I want one...while you are laying under the car..."

I think some people have a serious streak of irresponsible irrationality in them, they just push the boundaries of peoples comfort zones to draw a reaction whether it's with actions or words...and they expect you to not react because it's them...then they reset their limits and wait to push again. If you react, of course they weren't doing anything wrong because the car wouldn't have fallen and crushed you, the gun wasn't loaded/pointed at you, I didn't know you felt so strongly about this and can't we find some common ground...I am done with them.

 

[CindyE]

The neighbor may be classified as stupid, not the guns...just saying. Unless you identify them as something most folks on this board would recognize as indeed stupid.

I didn't really care for his choice in guns, but i guess stupid is just what i consider most anything that involves him...lol.
BTW, I wasn't rude the first time he did this, it was after he had done this several times to my husband and me. He had been told before. So glad he moved away!

 

[EPeter213]

We used to have a neighbor like that. His garage faced ours across the alley. He was always showing off his stupidity with guns. I "tactfully" said, "Hey! Quit pointing that sh*t at me!" And of course, he replies that he never carries with one in the chamber. I answered that with, "I don't give a sh*t, don't point it at me!" Thankfully, we finally made him mad enough to stop speaking to us.

FIFY

 

[CindyE]

FIFY

No! His guns are stupid, his truck is stupid, he is stupid, and i am so glad i no longer have to see him shirtless in the summer-time.
(i know... i get it. Still don't care for his guns, though.)

 

[Thor]

So glad he moved away!

Excellent outcome, had the same with a neighbor of ours...after we wrote a letter to the county prosecuting attorney. The family stopped talking to us then moved away.

 

[Thor]

No! His guns are stupid, his truck is stupid, he is stupid, and i am so glad i no longer have to see him shirtless in the summer-time.
(i know... i get it. Still don't care for his guns, though.)

Maybe we're talking about the same person here...

 

[CindyE]

Maybe we're talking about the same person here...

He moved out due to divorce, no family. So beware, he could be the new neighbor of someone else on here! I hate when you don't know your new neighbor is a moron, and once you find out, it's hard to get them to go away!

 

[stephen87]

First offense: "DUDE!", while using my hand to redirect the muzzle somewhere else.

Second offence: "**** DUDE!"

Third offence: "WHAT IN THE MOTHER ****, DUDE!".

In all honesty, I've never had the issue with friends. A couple times with inexperienced family, and I just gently moved the muzzle. They figured it out.

Gun store? Just be prepared for more sweeping than a Hoover.

This. If there is a gun out, it always tends to be in arms reach of me and I always redirect and point it out. If they do it again, it becomes more stern and redirected. A third time, if it's my firearm, it gets taken and that person doesn't get to play with my toys anymore. If it isn't mine, I redirect and recommend that they get put up. If they say no, I leave. Done it before. My life and well-being isn't worth you looking at a gun.

 

[NIFT]

Hurt his feelings. Don't let him pop his kid in the stomach because you didn't want to be rude.

I don't give a rat's aft about the feelings. The person's "feelings" are irrelevant. I strive neither to hurt the other's feelings nor try not to hurt the other's feelings; rather., I address the behavior at whatever level is required, up to and including physical intervention. Should his/her feelings be hurt, tough toenails.

 

[NIFT]

Gun store? Just be prepared for more sweeping than a Hoover.

Good one! I love it, and so true, sad to say.

 

[Thor]

The gun store thing swings both ways...I hate it when I'm trying to size up a weapon and other customers just walk in front of me so I have to pull to the ceiling. Apparently some people don't care about the Hoover.

 

[rhino]

Gun store? Just be prepared for more sweeping than a Hoover.

Good one! I love it, and so true, sad to say.

The gun store thing swings both ways...I hate it when I'm trying to size up a weapon and other customers just walk in front of me so I have to pull to the ceiling. Apparently some people don't care about the Hoover.

Pretty sure when someone is looking at a pistol in a gun shop and they let the muzzle stick into their palm or put their finger over the muzzle that you're safe. There's no way anything could penetrate their hand or finger tip, so everyone A-O-K.

 

[IndyTom]

Pretty sure when someone is looking at a pistol in a gun shop and they let the muzzle stick into their palm or put their finger over the muzzle that you're safe. There's no way anything could penetrate their hand or finger tip, so everyone A-O-K.

As much as we may think this, it only applies if they are wearing a thimble.

 

[Thor]

As much as we may think this, it only applies if they are wearing a 2" thick tungsten carbide thimble.

FIFY

 

[Mark 1911]

A friend and I were shooting pistols at the 25-yd range at Winamac. There was an older couple on the bench next to ours, appeared to be a man "teaching" his wife to shoot. She was shooting a revolver, never took her finger off the trigger between shots, but would lower the pistol such that the muzzle was covering the bench and concrete pad. Then she'd raise up for the next shot shot and cover the canopy above. More than once she swung around to talk to her hubby and covered my friend and I and her husband in the process. He was hardly paying attention to what she was doing. Truly pathetic. We didn't say a word, we had more than enough at that point. We backed off way the line until she was empty, then we quickly grabbed our stuff and packed up and left. Neither of us wanted any more of that nonsense. We shared a few glances while we were packing up, but I don't think either one of them ever had a clue why we left so suddenly, and neither one of us felt like trying to explain it to them.

 

[rhino]

As much as we may think this, it only applies if they are wearing a thimble.

FIFY

I was going to ask steel, plastic, or ceramic?

 

[IndyTom]

FIFY

Is there any other kind?

 

[Thor]

Is there any other kind?

Not IMHO...those needles are pointy. Best to be safe.