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Father in law pointed a gun at me and my spouse (his child) at point blank range, alternately letting the muzzle cover our faces and bodies while he swung the gun back and forth for about 8-10 seconds. He wasn't angry, but for some reason had brought the gun out and was showing it to us. He was somehow oblivious that we were both asking him to stop and ducking and putting our hands up to protect ourselves the whole time. We left immediately and when we confronted him later about the incident he claimed the gun wasn't loaded.

While this poll question may seem sarcastic, I am doing it to make a point and share with the mother in law and sister in law that somehow think it was a harmless act on his part.

I was never allowed to point my cap pistols at a person.

Show him a copy of the book from NRA's Basic Handgun Class. Tell him that there's is literally NOBODY in the gun world who would agree with him on this......and that we go so far as to make sure the ammunition is in another room when we clean and otherwise manipulate our guns, so that there is literally no possibility of fooling ourselves into mistakenly thinking that the gun is not loaded.

Quite a stupid thing to do, in my opinion. When I point a gun at something, person included, I intend to destroy it. Hopefully I never need to do that to a person in civilian life.

I suspect when said and done the poll will be unanimous...

inexcusable, and a clear violation of the Prime Directives

some things that you might want to look at that you may or may not have thought about. Was this completely out of character? as in, has he ever done anything like this before, has he always been careful with his guns, or was this normal? If this was the first time he's ever done it, what time of day was it? How old is he? Don't go into worry mode, but start paying a little extra attention to him, is it possible he's having a bit of cognitive problems?

Did he say "hey y'all, hold my beer, and watch THIS" before he pulled this stunt?

Cooper Rule #1: ALL guns are ALWAYS loaded. ALWAYS.
Cooper Rule #2: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

Cooper disciples will, at minimum, consider the described behaviour as unpardonably rude.

Even doing it with the bright orange rubber gun in a classroom environment will get you the "Vulcan raised eyebrow" from many of us.......

Should you feel safe? Emphatically 'NO'. It doesn't matter if a violation of Cooper#2 is based in hostile intent or in simple negligence. Worst case, you will be just as dead either way.....

SewTexas wrote:some things that you might want to look at that you may or may not have thought about. Was this completely out of character? as in, has he ever done anything like this before, has he always been careful with his guns, or was this normal? If this was the first time he's ever done it, what time of day was it? How old is he? Don't go into worry mode, but start paying a little extra attention to him, is it possible he's having a bit of cognitive problems?

Good point - I didn't even think of that.

remanifest wrote:

SewTexas wrote:some things that you might want to look at that you may or may not have thought about. Was this completely out of character? as in, has he ever done anything like this before, has he always been careful with his guns, or was this normal? If this was the first time he's ever done it, what time of day was it? How old is he? Don't go into worry mode, but start paying a little extra attention to him, is it possible he's having a bit of cognitive problems?

Good point - I didn't even think of that.

I am caretaker for my mother-in-law and have become a bit of an arm-chair expert in dementia and Alz, hours upon hours of college level lectures online and an online-college level course. You'd be amazed at the symptoms that are missed years before diagnosis, by doctors.


(These are just my thoughts though, no medical opinion intended.)

SewTexas - I am unsure of his character more and more each day. He's in late 50's no alcohol or drug use. There are other things he's done that show lack of judgment or foresight including:

He and his wife approached wild bears within 10-15 ft in order to get a photograph. (National park advises keep 100yd distance at all times)

He doesn't require his passengers to wear seat belts including his wife and a 200lb 83 yr old grandmother. I've mentioned that in the event of a collision, the grandmother's G forces could easily kill and crush any one else in the vehicle. This reality hasn't changed their opinion/behavior.

He took our 10 month old child and put the baby up on his shoulder and while holding him with one arm tried to bottle feed him with the other. The child almost wriggled out and fell to a tile/concrete floor but thankfully we both rushed to prevent the child from falling.

Initial signs of reduced cognitive function are definitely a possibility. The thing is, as dangerous and unpredictable as he is, I am not inclined to risk being around him to make more observations.

Everyone else. I very much appreciate your comments and your understanding of the gravity of the situation. This is a serious situation for us (husband and wife) and the safety of our child. His wife has frequent panic attacks and they are pressing us to have more contact with our child.

I know this isn't a parenting forum but I can't even get the other family members to understand why this gun incident is in fact a real problem. They always defend him by stating 'he was in the army and knows his way around guns'. I point out that even the Russian Army wouldn't let this kind of stupidity go unabated.

lfinsr wrote:I suspect when said and done the poll will be unanimous...

I would not be so sure. We do have some Hillary supporters on board.

"Unloaded" guns have killed and injured thousands of people- and will do so again many times this year. Along with this page research and show them the many instances of deaths and injuries caused by unloaded guns, even when being handled by trained people.

Having been in the Army don't make a person an expert on gun handling any more than driving your car makes you a NASCAR driver.

Your father in law may or may not be showing signs of diminished capacity. From the other examples it certainly seems that he has a reckless disregard for his safety and the safety of others. He also has a disregard for gun laws, wildlife regulations and driving laws. Sadly, your other in laws appear to be enablers for his behavior.

Every gun should always be treated as if it was loaded. Under NO circumstance is it acceptable to point a gun at another person unless the purpose is self defense.

What he did was very very stupid, ignorant and unlawful at that (lookup deadly conduct charge in Texas).

My dad, who taught me gun safety. He taught me the 4 rules of gun safety. Never actually laid them out in order, but he taught me them. Taught me to lay my rifle/shotgun on the ground if I needed to cross a fence, not lean it against the fence. Years ago when I was in junior high school, he almost shot my stepmother in the face with an "unloaded" rifle. Round went through the ceiling, destoryed a box of christmas ornaments, and then through the roof.

We are human, we have brain farts. However not recognizing that you did wrong is the troubling part. I'd also seriously wonder about anyone that answers the poll that it is okay to point a gun at people for no reason.