How about a good handgun safety class or two and then have him get a Ruger SP101 double action revolver in .22LR. DA revolvers are at least somewhat idiot proof and with a .22LR he is least likely of killing someone if he had a negligent discharge.
I was only half-serious about the crazy part. Like when you tell somebody “that’s crazy” but you don’t literally mean insane in the strongest sense of the word.
Anyway, I still think that people pick up on subtle social-ques. If he picks up on the fact that he’s being manipulated (which is what you are doing), what do you think that will do to his confidence? Realizing that you’re the subject of somebody’s social experiment (or even suspecting that you are), seems far worse than being approached honestly. Is his psyche is so fragile that he can’t handle a simple, frank discussion?
Is your other friend going to be obvious about what’s happening? Even if he’s not obvious about it, will something being “off” be noticeable?
Just seems strange to me to have to set up a scheme where friends are lying to each other just to go shooting safely. Maybe it’s not crazy, but it is weird.
So it’s a tad manipulative. Who gives a shit if it gets him where he needs to be?
And, no, I’m not a “the ends justify the means” guy in every situation lest anyone leap to that generalization. I just think Steyr may have hit upon a possible solution that’s worth a try.
Steyr, I think your plan sounds reasonable and promising. In fact, I think it is a clever way to teach the guy safety while letting him save face at the same time.
Your friend negligently shot someone else. At what point would having remedial gun safety practice NOT be in order? If your buddy’s ego is that big & fragile maybe putting a gun in his hand isn’t the greatest idea.
Take the lead and and 30 mins of your time to get him up to speed or stay out of it altogether but he’ll probably still get the heater somewhere else and still not get the knowledge that he needs if you do.
NERF gun comes to mind as being a good match for him and his ego. Anything else is just a ND waiting to happen.
Well that’s the beauty part, it isn’t quite the staged “set up” that you are imagining. My one friend is still a novice shooter so he actually will be sort of a safety coach for him. And in order to do that job effectively I will have to review all the safety rules so that they are current in his mind.
And my other friend will be in on it to the extent that he will know it’s been awhile since our friend has been shooting so we are all going to be really watching the safe gun handling.
I’m not going to be going up to anyone and giving them a character to play. I probably didn’t explain that part well enough. More correctly everyone is going to be assigned a task, and those tasks will involve watching your shooting buddy to make sure there is safe gun handling all around.
And that is the goal.
I’m trying to get him to actually be a “safe shooter.” And if I get him there by having him help me make sure our other friend is observing all the safety rules and at the same time having that friend do the same, that is what I’m gonna do.
And if the worst thing I do is “trick” somebody into being mindful of safe gun handling and “learning by teaching” then that is fine with me. I’ve learned some very useful things that way.
It isn’t a matter of ego, if it was I probably wouldn’t be friends with him. It’s more a matter of guns aren’t a priority. I see the same “good enough” mentality from LOTS of hunters. They do shit that makes me not want to be anywhere around them with guns, but they don’t do it enough to think they need any additional help.
It’s going to come down to me doing a little mentoring as several people have already realized. If I adopt a teacher / student posture he is going to learn very little and remember even less. If I enlist him as an assistant I make him responsible for making sure a friend of ours is safe and he will take that far more seriously and will be far more likely to retain the particulars of gun safety.
The three of us will be at the range, all watching and helping each other, more or less on an equal footing. This way we can ALL go back to STEP ONE: Safe Gun Handling and The Four Rules.
Anyway, I’m not trying to argue and debate. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something and was interested in any ideas that might be better.
Shooting someone is the hard way to learn to take gun safety seriously. It is however an effective lesson. Your friend is one damned lucky guy. I knew two people who accidentally killed with firearms. One, a college buddy killed his father turkey hunting. The guilt destroyed him and the grief destroyed his mother. They both drank themselves to death. Three lives lost to a stupid lack of safety discipline. My other buddy did a lot better. The man he killed was not well liked, not by his family or anyone else, no one was particularly grieved to see him go and he was very well insured. My buddy was well insured too, so well that the incident cost him not one penny nor did he have to spend even one night in jail. Nevertheless it was very difficult on him and haunts him to this day. As it should. Unless your buddy is stupid he should “get it” now and for all time. All he needs in the training. Tell him Suwannee Tim sez: “You will make mistakes. Many times there will be no range officer, safety instructor or shooting buddy there to correct you. You need to learn from every mistake. You need to be your harshest critic. You need to take the necessary time and care to make sure that your mistakes are minor. There is simply no room for major mistakes when handling firearms.”
This seems like a very red flag. I would figue out a way to avoid playing any kind of role in this individual’s quest to own a firearm. It sure sounds like his attitude has not changed for the better and all you need is for him to have another ND and hurt or kill someone else. JM2CW.