An unsafe gun friend

Mark_Mark said:

here's another one about if they would have just not broken 1 of the 3 rules of gun handling, he would not have shot his friend

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Brad's God - given right, mon - unfortunate as it is...

Bazoo said:

I sent this one to him. This is similar to the way he acts. Kinda fumbly. Turning the gun over and over looking at it, unaware or uncaring if he muzzles others.

I’m going to double down on my own gun safety and set the tone.

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Hell yeah!

Bazoo said:

I wouldn’t say I won’t quit. I’ve thought on it a long time. But I want to try to better him. I have concern for others around him more than myself. Knowing how he is, I am very careful now.

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This post would make sense if your friend had swept you once or twice. But this guy has shown a history of abhorrent gun behavior (according to you) and doesn’t seem willing or perhaps NOT ABLE to improve, for whatever reason.
It’ll ruffle some feathers but I’m going to say it and you’ll never convince me otherwise - some people should not be around firearms.

You said,"he once shot a round off in my house......." He seems to think safety is just a word not a practice.
You need to step up and call him what he is. An un-safe, dangerous "friend" where weapons are concerned.
You also called him," somewhat un-safe." Good luck on your call out.

It sounds to me like the guy isn’t capable (mentally) of proper gun safety. I’m not saying this in a hateful way, but a descriptive way. Do you think watching some videos is going to be more impactful to him than having accidentally shot up your house, his house, and his car? No.

He can’t safely handle loaded guns. That’s the issue. It’s not that he doesn’t know that he SHOULD be handling them safely. It sounds like he can’t.

CapnMac said:

I've had to reassess my acquaintances/friendships a time or two.

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Well said. I was flashed by a friend just two days ago and still dwell on it. 9mm at my abdomen about five feet away, he fiddled around removing the magazine and then ejected the chambered round. My seemingly good-natured scolding of him as I dodged was scoffed at, and at that point I lost a gun friend. We'll do other stuff together, but no more gun stuff; I'll not become a statistic at the hands of someone unwilling to learn.

I dated a girl that I once tookto the range with me...she proceeded to turn around (in the lane) and wave the loaded gun at me and everyone there. That was the end of her.

Muzzled your wife and fired the gun in your house? I would have told that dumb ass hit the bricks and don’t ever come back.

Bazoo, I think you really have to take action, regardless of how much you might hate to do it on some level.

I'm surprised there aren't more accidental/negligent discharge disasters than there are. I've been around several NDs. All of the ones that didn't involve the gun being pointed in a safe direction were much earlier in life (have witnessed a couple in the past few years where the gun was pointed in a safe direction). A couple of them were very scary, thinking back on how incredibly close they were to being deadly disasters. One would have been me getting hit in the head from about 5 feet away with a .30-06 from 1903 Springfield. The bullet missed my head literally by a few inches. I'm also fortunate not to have had hearing damage from that incident.

it could happened to all of us! I was at a USPSA match, we were pasting the target. We thought we finished, RO called shooter to the line. Shooter ready, Stand-by….

Someone yelled…. STOP - Guy was down range

that was burnt in my head forever

It seems simple to me. He does dangerous things with guns and doesn't quit doing them even when corrected. You are putting you and your family in danger anytime this person is around you with a gun. It's time to stand up and tell him NO MORE GUNS around me and my family. We can maintain our friendship as long as no guns are involved from now on. If he isn't willing to take that route bid him goodbye and breathe a sigh of relief that he hasn't hurt or killed one of you.

Frankly, I'd ditch the whole friendship. No one rigidly compartmentalizes such carelessness, negligence and reckless disregard to only one small aspect of their lives; it is a habit of mind.

This is like riding w a buddy who drinks and drives. You might make it 1,000 times. It only takes once to change everything. Been there done that. Hit a guard rail at 80. If someone is unsafe I drop them! Getting old and I don’t heal like I used to.