Oh no, it's worse than that.
Just for laughs, let me tell you a litte about my old Dad. It is a wonder he owns guns, knowing how paranoid he is.
When is he camping or hunting or going anywhere he feels could be dangerous at all, he carries his 9mm Ruger P94. However, he carries it without a magazine in the gun!!!
When I first got a holster for my CZ40B he freaked out because I was carrying my gun with a magazine in it. I said "why in the hell would I even carry a gun if it wasn't going to be ready to use? Who says I will have time to draw my gun, pull out a magazine, load the magazine, and cock the gun, all during a potentially stressfull experience?" He won't hear any of it. He thinks I am crazy for carrying a loaded gun. He says if something came up there would be plenty of time to put a magazine in the gun and cock it.
By this same logic, he keeps his guns in the gun safe at all times. I like to keep one hidden under my bed when I'm at home, but I put it away if kids are coming over to visit. He says he bought his pistol for "home defense" but how can it defend anything if it's in the gun safe? If someone broke the door down and did a home invasion, he wouldn't have time to run to the gun safe (which is DOWNSTAIRS and his room is UPSTAIRS) and unlock it with the key (which is hidden in a different room) and get his gun out... then put a magazine in it..etc. etc. etc... The craziness never ends... That's why I sleep with a gun under MY bed, because I'd be our only defense. My dad doesn't know about it, he'd freak out.
When he is driving, every once in a while he taps his brakes, jerking everyone in the car around. I always offer to drive because I hate how he drives. Turns out, he does that on purpose because he is "making sure the brakes work". He has this fear that his brakes are going to suddenly stop working and he won't know about it, so he "checks" them frequently while driving, to make sure they grip tightly. He also keeps his right hand on the emergency brake at all times, unless he is using that hand to shift or something. I also see him pushing the button on the emergency brake constantly, because he is afraid he might not have released it all the way.
When he drinks a can of pop, he leaves about 1/8" in the bottom. He will not ever finish off a can of pop. Why? He is afraid there will be some kind of heavier dirt or other debris in the can, which would settle to the bottom. By not drinking the last 1/8" or so, he is avoiding drinking this sediment.
He gets all upset when I work on one of our cars and have to jack it up. He is convinced the car is going to fall on me, even though I use jack stands as a failsafe, and wheel blocks to keep the vehicle from rolling. Every time he sees me working on a jacked-up car he winces and says "one of these days you are going to kill yourself doing that!" He won't jack a car up at all, he is too afraid.
He also won't trim the lawn any more with our electric trimmer. If I'm not around to do it, it doesn't get done. Why? Because he is convinced that the grass will be slightly moist, and there will somehow be a nick in the extension cord, and electricity will travel from the cord into the grass and electrocute him.
When I got out the 40+ year old 300 savage ammo and was looking at it, he was literally cowering in fear and left the room. He was convinced it was going to explode and was angry that I wouldn't listen to him and stop touching it.
Do you guys know anyone like that?
If we were talking about grenades, claymore mines, and artillery rounds that'd been sitting out in the elements for how long, I could understand the paranoia. Those do destabilize as things break down.
