An immediate circle who are only likely to encounter DAO guns really don't need to know 1911-fu or Highpower How-to. (On the other hand, if you have a very traditional person who is accustomed to operating safeties, it wouldn't hurt to impress upon them that there are guns out there that are "point-and-bang".
Pump shotguns are pretty generic in operation. No need to cover the SPAS-12 drill manual, they all have a safety (cross-bar or tang), action slide, and action bar release button.
I guess my point is this: the gunnies in your life can probably figure out most guns (with the exception of the old traditionalist mentioned above). The non-gunnies can be easily overwhelmed, but of course you should take every opportunity to educate them. When they are ready to learn, that is.
My wife and daughter support guns rights, and they both know how to shoot and enjoy trips to the range, but they're otherwise gun-neutral. They don't think about guns, read gun forums, or study the subtleties of the law. Neither dreams of what gun they might get for Christmas. That said, every handgun in the house (except for the Ruger Standard .22) is kept in the same condition: grab, point, pull the trigger. The only defensive long gun (Winchester 1300 Defender) has a similar manual-of-arms: grab, point, rack, shoot.
My new daughter-in-law thinks it's "cool" that we're getting her a home defense shotgun for Christmas, but she doesn't have much gun experience beyond her Army training. We'll spend a day of personal instruction out at the range and burn through a couple of boxes of 7-1/2 birdshot, then send her home with six in the tube of 00 Buck.
For grins, we actually wrapped the shotgun up for our son, and wrapped the ammo up for her.
