Can anyone ever touch your gun?

Sometimes the OP's philosophical/spiritual question almost answers itself when you deal with someone that you only think you know. At an indoor range I ran into a kid that I know from local events. He does, or was doing, at least, certain marketing chores as an IC for Geissele, so I figured, incorrectly, that he was a little more aware of various firearms MOA and range etiquette than he actually turned out to be. Long story short, he asked to try one of my S&W revolvers. Rather than load it for him and cover ground rules, I put it on the table cylinder-out and muzzle-forward and let him load it. Mistake. He loads it, spins the cylinder like he thinks he's Bat-effin'-Masterson, and then tries to Dick Tracy wrist-snap the cylinder back into place. Before he managed to lay a finger out perpendicular to and over the forcing cone, I stopped him cold. People need training, and it's a mistake to think that ownership is enough to make the average overconfident enthusiast safe.
 
I have only three friends and I trust all three of them with my life. They are more than welcome to borrow ANY of my firearms (including my GAP-10) at any time. Only 2 rules are factory ammo or MY reloads, and you can't borrow both of my pistols at the same time, gotta keep one carry gun. I have known and been friends with all three individuals for 10+ years, they all have weapons in their houses with kids in the house (they all keep their guns in safes), and I have shot with them too so I know they are safe. Plus we have all borrowed each others guns at some point in time so we trust each other. I do let people shoot my guns at the range if they have a genuine interest and don't look or sound full retard, but they shoot under my close supervision and I never hand anyone a loaded gun. I will hand it to them unloaded and have them load it after they have pointed the muzzle downrange.
 
This reminds me of my Sensei when I studied Koryu Bujutsu years ago. He felt this way about his Katana. The Samurai felt that their spirit was in their blade and for someone else to touch it was a great offense. He felt the same way and as the Senpai in the dojo I was expected to embrace and practice this also. At the time I did this out of respect but honestly I thought it was a load of shit.
With that said, I don't just let anyone handle my weapons loosely. I have to trust someone for them to have access to them and typically I am there to supervise the fondling of it.
 
All this talk about touching a gun and no one here has mentioned Paris Hilton??!!!

I dunno, I'm thinking some here on the 'Hide are losing their edge.
 
Wanna shoot my guns? Sure, ask, and only shoot my ammo (you can offer to pay but I still won't take your money). Don't dick with my optics unless I say it's ok. Other than that, enjoy yourself, that's what they're made for. I'm gonna watch you like a hawk and stop you if there's a hint of a safety issue, but they're made to enjoy, so why not?

The whole "warrior is the only one to gaze upon the magnificence of a finely tuned piece of blah blah blah" bullshit is just that, bullshit. Say what you want about some spirituality and far eastern philosophy but it's not feudal Japan, you're not giving your life for your master, and really you're just trying to look cool.

It reminds me of the scene in Indiana Jones where the dude pulls out his sword and starts swinging it around gonna fight Indy. He does the fancy sword work, the angry eyes, the whole 9 yards. Indy shoots him and walks away without a second thought. It's a false economy. There's no warrior ethos imbued into 7075 and plastic. It's a firearm, use the opportunity to grow our spot and our hobby, don't use the opportunity to make people think you take yourself way too seriously.
 
All with permission and with respect.

This topic reminded me of something I had almost forgot happened. My shooter and I just came off of a little recon in this valley in Astan. We are in the middle of the patrol base talking with the CO, a couple of PL's and some PSG's about the plan. We are going to grab two more guys, and take a position up this ridge line to over-watch the line guys hit a house. As we are ripping our packs apart, pulling out stuff we don't need and throwing shit in we did. I look over and see this Brigade enabler with my shooters M2010 in his hands. He is acting like he is shooting it and having his POG buddy take pictures. He never asked to look or touch, just picked it up like it was his. My shooter who was an E4, saw it the same time I did. His face turned bright red and he got a look on his face I had seen multiple times in the bars back home when he was punching someone repeatedly in the face. I knew I had to act quickly, or this kid was going to take an ass whooping, I immediately went into crazy NCO mode. Don't remember what I said exactly, but was told later by one of the PL's present that I was yelling something about raping him up and down the mountain and skull fucking. He nicely put the rifle down, and never looked our way the rest of the OP. Never understood what was going through his mind when he did it. I would never think about doing something like that without asking, kind of blew my mind.

No one ever touched our stuff again after that one.
 
A lot of guys know I shoot and ask to go the range with me. I embrace those opportunities to show the novices correct gun safety. I have an AR15 and a nine millimeter that I have specifically for that purpose. I don't like to watch folks bang a four thousand dollar rifle around but the can drop the AR and I won't cry over it.
 
I have no issues letting my friends handle my rifles. Hell, I brought a couple rifles on several occasions into the ROTC dept. when I was in school so the cadets on the Ranger Challenge team could practice disassembly/assembly/functions checks in preparation for the competition. However, when I was overseas my rifle was only handled by myself.
 
When guys went on R&R, we would always take retarded photos with their rifles out on missions, they would always get pissed. One rifle that didn't have any confirms on it got two while one of our guys was gone. Needless to say he was pissed, and we never let him forget about what a whore his rifle was.
 
My good shooting buds can borrow any of them if they want. I know they will treat my stuff as good or better than me. If something gets damaged accidentally, crap happens, no big deal. Good friends are more important than "stuff".

Trilogymac
 
My good shooting buds can borrow any of them if they want. I know they will treat my stuff as good or better than me. If something gets damaged accidentally, crap happens, no big deal. Good friends are more important than "stuff".

Trilogymac

Exfuckingzactly...
 
One of my friends is a former military sniper and a 25+ year LEO (he's a good bit older than I am, and served his military time in the early 80's). His philosophy is that, as a warrior, no one should ever get to handle your guns except you (and your spotter if you're working as a sniper team).

As a "warrior", I assume military, the weapon is not yours. It is Uncle Sam's property and everyone and their brother touches it. From the supply sergeant to whoever was randomly assigned to do monthly/quarterly inventory. It was assigned to you and will be reassigned when you leave.
As an LEO, pretty much the same thing. Unless it is a privately owned weapon, it gets handled the same as a mil weapon. Even a POW gets TI'd and inspected at every range qual by the armorer.
These are just tools, inanimate pieces of metal, wood and plastic.

As for letting others shoot your weapons, the Utah Gun Collector's Assoc has an annual picnic and range shoot. Everyone is welcome to try other members firearms. I have gotten to shoot some really cool stuff. But, I have to limit how many rounds go through my Japanese Type 99 LMG. Just too much to break and ammo is too expensive.
 
Can anyone ever touch your gun?

As a "warrior", I assume military, the weapon is not yours. It is Uncle Sam's property and everyone and their brother touches it. From the supply sergeant to whoever was randomly assigned to do monthly/quarterly inventory. It was assigned to you and will be reassigned when you leave.
As an LEO, pretty much the same thing. Unless it is a privately owned weapon, it gets handled the same as a mil weapon. Even a POW gets TI'd and inspected at every range qual by the armorer.
Are you saying that's how it's done in Fourth Tier units??
 
I buy rugged dependable weapons be they guns or blades & anyone I know is welcome to fondle them or use them with me if they want.
The group of people that I let borrow my weapons without be being there is smaller and is based on stewardship.
I'm usually happy to let new people try out fine quality weapons if they are decent folk.
Fine quality weapons are works of art and deserve to be fondled and admired by many people.
 
I try to get a gauge on the person before I let them fondle or shoot my guns.

I am very respectful of other peoples space and guns and I usually wait until offered for a fondle of their rifles. I was spectating an International Sniper competition and really wanted to ask to handle the Australian and international rifles but politely and respectfully held out until some of the snipers between themselves offer to each other and then they let me too. Which I was very grateful for.

My friend had a hard time trying to get his Mrs to shoot his (.308 Win) 'big' gun after many attempts. He had given up but I offered to try. It took about 20 mins on the rim-fire and LITERALLY an hour building up to just one shot of the centrefire. This was nerves. After that she loved it and kept going. To me, this effort was worth it as it meant potentially one less 'hater' and hopefully she would share her experience with others.
 
This reminds me of my Sensei when I studied Koryu Bujutsu years ago. He felt this way about his Katana. The Samurai felt that their spirit was in their blade and for someone else to touch it was a great offense. He felt the same way and as the Senpai in the dojo I was expected to embrace and practice this also. At the time I did this out of respect but honestly I thought it was a load of shit.
With that said, I don't just let anyone handle my weapons loosely. I have to trust someone for them to have access to them and typically I am there to supervise the fondling of it.


I think that's exactly the mindset he has on this issue, and it fits with his interest in Japanese swords and his martial arts experiences.

But, we also discussed this issue in more depth tonight at work. When he was in the service (some 30 years ago) he said that was the prevailing opinion among the snipers he worked with: you just don't handle the other guy's gun. We also discussed the fact that each sniper team was carrying the same weapon (for the most part), so there wasn't as much motivation to handle someone else's gun anyway (unlike the range-time experiences we've all had with letting someone shoot our guns, or getting to shoot someone else's gun). He also mentioned how he was never really as concerned for his M16, and was mostly protective of his precision rifle.

I think equipment concerns might play a role in this for him, too. Lets face it, shooting equipment has evolved in the past thirty years, and mostly for the better. Now, I can't speak much of military sniper weapons systems of that time period, but I can speak of some of today's equipment. My friend mentioned how he'd be concerned about losing his zero or ending up with something out of adjustment if someone handled his sniper rifle. My newest rifle is an AIAX with a S&B scope in a Spuhr mount. I'm sure he could twist and turn those knobs all day and it would return to zero just fine. So, save for someone actively re-zeroing the rifle, it just isn't a very major concern for me if I hand the gun to someone and they twist the elevation knob while looking at it. But, my M4 is a different story, and I don't want anyone playing with the sights on that gun (it obviously doesn't have a zero stop I can dial right back to)

While I do let people shoot a round or two, some people want to sit there behind the larger calibers an "overstay their welcome" so to speak and burn through 40 or 50 dollars of ammo. I don't mind a shot or two but lets not get crazy....JMHO

Yeah, I've had that experience before, even with some of my close friends. My girlfriend's brother sometimes goes to the range with me, and likes to try out my guns. My girlfriend also has two other brothers who are much younger than her, and I was helping them learn to shoot on the range one day using my bolt gun. I also had my work rifle laying on the next shooting bench at the time, along with two magazines I had loaded with store bought factory ammunition (my agency doesn't *really* like it when I shoot up their ammo on my free time). Anyway, my girlfriend's other (adult) brother asks if he can take a "couple" of shots with my rifle. Knowing that he owns a couple of AR-15's himself, I figured he'd just try sending a couple of rounds and call it a day. Well, in the next 30 seconds or so he managed to dump 60 rounds of my store bought ammo at virtually nothing at all... that was over $40 worth of ammunition, and I swear he was just pulling the trigger to hear the noise, because he sure as hell wasn't hitting anything. Anyway, lesson learned: I now leave only a very small amount of ammo on the table when I'm shooting with folks who might like to try my guns!


When guys went on R&R, we would always take retarded photos with their rifles out on missions, they would always get pissed. One rifle that didn't have any confirms on it got two while one of our guys was gone. Needless to say he was pissed, and we never let him forget about what a whore his rifle was.

That's just awesome.
 
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I REGULARLY take people to the range that have never used a firearm before, I teach them the safe handling and proper use of firearms. I have two roommates, one has guns, the other (my girlfriend) loves to shoot with us. We go to the range all the time. I believe that people are disgustingly undereducated when it comes to firearms, that is, they let the media (mainly movies) teach them what they know about firearms. I try and do everything in my power to educate the public that firearms aren't going to kill people just because they are owned.

That being said, every single person who has used my firearms respects them. Why? Because I teach them that. They have all handled all of my firearms under my supervision, but will not just come into my house and handle them. Thats the beauty. To me - firing the guns can be a very social thing, but my friends won't just come over to "play" with them. If they want to do dry runs, I'll put them through but never will they just start playing with them when I'm not around.

The thing is - guns are tough. They are meant to be shot. I'm not spending 500 on a shotgun to have it "guard" my suits in my closet. I bought the gun to have fun at then range and hunt with. Furthermore, I maintain my guns, and the people who shoot them with me also maintain them.

So yes, I let other people touch and use my guns but its with my consent. If somebody just came over and started manhandling them, as with anything else, I'll get upset. But there is now way that someone is going to break one of my guns by cycling through the action - if it did, then you have to think how dangerous that'd be on the range.
This is my exact philosophy. I let responsible people at the range shoot a 5 round magazine at the range under my close supervision. I have two DTAs and an MRAD. They're amazed at the accuracy, since most are shooting ARs or hunting rifles. Even the Range Officers are in awe as I quickly switch out DTA barrels. It promotes the sport, but I can certainly see why someone would not want anyone messing with their service weapon, when their life might depend on it.
 
If you are invited to my house or to where I shoot you are welcome to handle my firearms. How closely I watch the person is dependent on how much I trust them. If on the range I will let others try my things out under supervision. I have lent firearms to friends for competitions or my brother for hunting.
 
Well, the only guns I have that I don't allow to be messed around with by others is my CCW and my HD gun because those are always loaded. Other than those two, I don't have a problem with friends or family wanting to handle my guns. I only have one friend who I won't ever let handle my guns and that's because he almost shot me in the foot when we were teenagers.
 
Its a very rare day anybody touches my gun, much less gets trigger time with it. My brother in law one asked to borrow it for deer season without having a license to hunt, hunter safety education, or ever touching it. I flat out told him NO AND LEARN SOME MANNERS, I don't want my 4k dollar rifle being confiscated by the game warden, and you don't have enough money to replace it

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1) If you're cool with me you can handle my guns in my presence, but you better not be messing with my sights or optics (unless appropriate under the circumstances). exactly
2) You'll probably be welcome to shoot my guns at the range, but only under my supervision. exactly
3) You won't be allowed to take my guns out without me, though I've occasionally loaned a gun to a buddy while out hunting, etc. exactly, luckily i have no friends or buds so the second part is N/A
4) I'm more relaxed with my gun "toys" than I am with the guns upon which my life depends. SHOULD BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND
 
I have 2 close friends that I've literally shed blood with that have the combination to my safe while I'm overseas. EVERYTHING in my safe and whatever ammo I have is theirs for their use. I loaned one of them my M4 to go through Dept qual with and to carry on the road for a year while I was gone and he was saving up money to buy his own. I told him to treat it as his own, in every way. He could re-zero it to him, change out accessories, whatever he needed. He returned it at the end of the year in better condition than I loaned it out, along with a box of brand new PMAGs because mine had "gotten scratched" while he was training.

It is the odd person that I won't take shooting if they ask. I have even gotten to the point where I've bought guns that I didn't really have a use for myself simply because I thought a friend or their kids would enjoy shooting it, or it would be a good "training weapon" for a new shooter to get some trigger time on.

I'm facing a move to Cook County when I'm home for good and there's a line of people begging me to go shooting now that Illinois has concealed carry. These are people who've never touched a firearm and I've agreed to take them out (separately so I can focus on safety) to shoot anything I have. I'm looking forward to those range trips as much as they are, because it's a chance to introduce adults to the sport who have been fed a steady stream of B.S. about the evils of firearms.

When I was a PMI, I would loan my rifle to a "problem shooter", and build him up with crazy B.S. about how accurate THAT rifle was, and how I had the high score for the past "x" number of years with THAT rifle, etc, etc. He'd set up his own BZO on it and shoot qual. I'd pull a temp-loan from the Armory and zero/qual with it. My rifle wasn't magic, it was a tool that responded to my inputs.

None of that is to say I "don't care" about my firearms, I love each of them dearly, and combined they account for more of my net worth than anything I have in the world (including equity in my house), but I'd rather they be enjoyed, and used to build great memories with friends than to spend their lives without a scratch on them.
 
None of that is to say I "don't care" about my firearms, I love each of them dearly, and combined they account for more of my net worth than anything I have in the world (including equity in my house), but I'd rather they be enjoyed, and used to build great memories with friends than to spend their lives without a scratch on them.

That sums it up and we can stop right here !!!!!!!
 
I don't usually call it a gun, but if she's hot and doesn't use her teeth, then yes.

I just got back, I kid you not, less than 20 minutes ago from Jumping on a 'Grenade' so my buddy could get the hot friend. Pretty much anybody can touch my gun if it means a team victory. Same goes for my rifles and the rest of my toys. This 'warrior' stuff is honestly a bunch of malarkey. I'm more protective of my truck than my firearms when it comes to allowing COMPETENT people to handle them.
Sure, I name my rifles and shit, but I know that they don't have a soul, a chakra, or whatever the fuck my yoga teacher feels like calling it this week. Why? because I'm an Adult.
When I was deployed, my M240B was fondled more than the town bicycle. Hell, right now, my entire arsenal is at my buddy's house for safe keeping while I'm in Lower America on Business, and I really don't care if he uses them. Establishing some kind of spiritual value in an inanimate tool is pretty childish, and reinforces my belief that America has gone overboard with this materialistic culture/ wanting to look and feel cool like a fucking samurai/Call of Duty Operator.
Reminds me of this guy that showed up to my SVA chapter about three years ago. dresses like the dude on Assassin's Creed. Shit you not, spent a thousand dollars on the costume, complete with all the faggoty little throwing stars and shit (I dunno, I don't play videogames, so I'm assuming that the gay little throwing stars came with it). He had been a turbo-POG in the Navy, and from what I gathered of him before we finally told him to take his fantasy world and leave, his stay in the Navy ended involuntarily. The Guy used to Hitch Hike from Eagle River to UAA wearing that bullshit.

I can't even imagine who would consider giving him a ride.

That's what I'm picturing when I think of this 'sensei wouldn't let anybody touch his Thousand year-old heirloom sword, so I'm not gonna let anybody touch my gun' nonsense.
 
Second, if they drop it or damage it in some other way, I'm going to be the one paying the repair bill.


Among the non mall ninja crowd this is the primary reason they prefer people not handle their firearms. It's no fun to have someone handling your rifle and then drop it, damaging your $2k -$3k scope or leaving a nice gouge on barrel/action/stock. Not because it has some mystical powers that will be harmed by others handling them, because some people just have a knack for "clumsy" or disrespect for other's property (and often their own as well).
 
Not being either a warrior or an LEO, I do allow handling and even shooting of my fire-arms with my prior consent, in my presence, under my supervision. There are a few people whom I would allow to borrow certain fire-arms under certain conditions.
I am quite certain that I would NEVER allow ANYONE to handle ANY of my Service Weapons if I were either a warrior or LEO.


From other posts I have read here, I see that it may not be possible to not let others touch ones Service Firearms when in the Armed Services or LEO. However, I still would not like others to be "messing" with the weapons upon which my life and the lives of my buddies depend. Perhaps just a personal thing, but I want to know it is exactly as I left it, not a bunch of adjustments made without my knowledge, or possibly rough handling of which I am not made aware. This is a personal opinion, and from what I read here, not always practical or possible, but still would be desirable in my eyes.
 
I have 6 guns that I am fairly restrictive on allowing others to touch, my 2 precision match rifles, 3G rifle, M1 Garand match rifle, and my grandfathers 2 WWII bring backs (Garand and minty Arisaka). The match and 3G rifles because for some reason folks have a tendency to reach up and start adjusting the optics/sights. My grandfathers guns because of emotion. Other than that I have a room full of guns that I let others shoot, borrow, and fondle. How much they get to do beyond fondling depends on me verifying their adherence to basic safety. To echo what others have said, I enjoy introducing people to the sport and believe in paying it forward. If this sport is to continue it is up to all of us. I am more concerned about the safety of people than I am about the gun being damaged. I damaged 2 shotgun stocks as a kid (1 belonging to an uncle, the other to a family friend) and on both occasions they simply talked to me about being careful and didn't ask me to pay for the repairs. That kindness was burned into me in a far more positive way than if they had chosen to scold me over my carelessness. I keep that in mind every time I hand over one of my guns. On the rare occasion someone is going to take my rifle hunting I provide the ammo because that is what the gun was sighted in with and I will worry less about them getting the wrong caliber at the gun store.

There are 3 people other than myself that have the key and combination to my gun room. They have respect for me and the rooms contents. And I have a way of verifying this known only to me. Within the gun room is a safe where I keep the most lethal, most sentimental, and most valuable items. There is only 1 other person that has that combination. I absolutely trust that they would never compromise the safe unless some horrible scenario hung in the balance, and they certainly do not need to ask my permission to do so.

Knives are a different matter. I am superstitious about them from my days as a sailor. I never lend anyone a knife but am happy to buy one for you. This is an absolute.
 
I have learned from experience that it is best not to loan anything that is sharp, goes put put, whir, or bang.
I will let people I trust handle my guns, even shoot them, on my range, with me in attendance.
Just recently, a friend brought his grandson to my place to shoot. He was admiring my gun, an 1895 Marlin CB , and before I could stop him, he cocked it and dry fired. I believe, after my reaction, that he will never do that again. Just as punishment, I should have made him shoot it. Damned thing HURTS.
 
Sporting use, or professional/duty use? If it's professional/duty use it's probably just assigned to you and not really yours. Along with the consignment comes responsibility and liability with the weapon; another area of concern in it's extreme accuracy setup. Just saying...
 
If I don't trust you, you aren't my friend. I'll loan rifles to some friends, but we clarify the expectations before the firearm walks out the door...such as:

1. Please don't clean the rifle, leave that to me.
2. Let me know how many rounds you put through it so I can put it into my log book.
3. If you adjust my sights, return them to the original setting, and let me know that you moved them.
4. Don't shoot anyone else's reloads or ammo through my stuff..we will figure out what you will shoot in it before you leave.
5. I don't mind minor scratches, or honest wear. That would be like loaning someone a vehicle, and bitching about extra miles on
it. Big stuff, I trust that you will let me know about, and will take care of.

Being too anal about stuff makes my life too miserable. I'm not currently active duty law enforcement, or military. I used to be though. My carry gun is always checked by me before I carry it. I would let someone else shoot it at the range, but afterwards I would check it, and make sure it is working before I trusted my life to it. But I do that even if all I did was disassemble and clean it.
 
If I don't trust you, you aren't my friend. I'll loan rifles to some friends, but we clarify the expectations before the firearm walks out the door...such as:

1. Please don't clean the rifle, leave that to me.
2. Let me know how many rounds you put through it so I can put it into my log book.
3. If you adjust my sights, return them to the original setting, and let me know that you moved them.
4. Don't shoot anyone else's reloads or ammo through my stuff..we will figure out what you will shoot in it before you leave.
5. I don't mind minor scratches, or honest wear. That would be like loaning someone a vehicle, and bitching about extra miles on
it. Big stuff, I trust that you will let me know about, and will take care of.

Being too anal about stuff makes my life too miserable. I'm not currently active duty law enforcement, or military. I used to be though. My carry gun is always checked by me before I carry it. I would let someone else shoot it at the range, but afterwards I would check it, and make sure it is working before I trusted my life to it. But I do that even if all I did was disassemble and clean it.


Sounds to be a pretty judicious outlook, and practical in an LEO or Military environment, from what I read here about the impossibility of keeping other's hands off the business guns in those two environments.
 
I try to get a gauge on the person before I let them fondle or shoot my guns.

I am very respectful of other peoples space and guns and I usually wait until offered for a fondle of their rifles. I was spectating an International Sniper competition and really wanted to ask to handle the Australian and international rifles but politely and respectfully held out until some of the snipers between themselves offer to each other and then they let me too. Which I was very grateful for.

My friend had a hard time trying to get his Mrs to shoot his (.308 Win) 'big' gun after many attempts. He had given up but I offered to try. It took about 20 mins on the rim-fire and LITERALLY an hour building up to just one shot of the centrefire. This was nerves. After that she loved it and kept going. To me, this effort was worth it as it meant potentially one less 'hater' and hopefully she would share her experience with others.

I drove past my local (normal) range today on the way to a 'gong' range and saw the red flag up, so I turned around to say g'day to whatever member was using the 'big 1100m' range.
Turns out they were Federal police snipers and were fairly friendly. I offered them to shoot my TRG and they then offered to shoot their 'work' guns. It was nice and I felt we were all appreciative. Later at the other range the same thing happened with randoms and I fired three different rifles and they shot mine. It was a good day.
 
Will I hand someone, even a close friend, one of my guns and let them go off with it for hours or days? No.
Will I let them fondle one? Yes, any time.
Will I let them arbitrarily start making adjustments to one of my guns? No. Not without supervision on my part.
Would I ever want anyone to pick up one of my guns without first asking? Never.
Will I allow people I don't even know at my club shoot one of my guns? Anytime they like as long as they show a particular interest in it.
 
I will let people who seem intelligent and safe shoot my guns.

I will let people who I innately trust and who I know also have guns borrow my guns without me there.

The list of people I will let borrow my guns without me there I can count on one hand.
 
That guys sounds like an idiot. I have no problem with people touching my weapons as long as they dont fuck with my LOP, cheek riser, scope...shit like that that I have setup for myself and don't want fucked with. Hell I don't even mind letting randoms at the range shoot some of them.
 
My motorcycle is a whole different story, don't touch it. Just stay the hell away from it. When I was getting ready to go to Iraq I told the wife that if she made a misstep while I was gone we would work through it. If she let anyone touch my bike it wouldn't be about divorce because a reload is only 30 cents. I was only half kidding.

I only have one weapon I am touchy about and that is an old, not worth much, pistol I use for carry. It is the best shooting pistol I have ever found. It is not fancy but it fits me. It makes me nervous to see someone else handle it. I would let a good friend handle it after I cleared it, maybe, if they were a real good friend. I have let people shoot it but not without keeping an eagle eye on them. I like that less and less as I get older. I can let myself be emotional about at least one thing at my age and this is it.

The rest of my guns I look at like I do my chainsaw or my snowplow. Good friends that will make good if they screw it up can borrow my tools/weapons if they know what they are doing. Don't mess with any of the adjustments unless you ask first. Make sure the maintenance is kept up with. Don't use any reloads or ammo except mine. I don't want any money for the ammo. My chainsaws, same thing, don't adjust the oil flow rate on the chain and use the oil and gas I give them.
 
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If I'm there with you feel free to shoot any of my guns with my ammunition or with factory ammo. Now there is only one instance where I asked an individual for a gun back before they were "done". A young cop fresh out of academy didn't understand a colt python trigger is not a glock trigger. Nor did he understand keep your finger out of the guard until you're on target. He left a hell of a crater about 6ft in front of his feet.

Should you like to borrow one of my guns there are two questions. Can you afford to replace it if you break it or otherwise make it dysfunctional. Second question is do I know you well enough and trust you to replace/repair it if something goes wrong. There aren't very many people that I can say yes for the second question though.

My first job ever was as a trap boy. As a young boy of 11 I had the opportunity to shoot trap guns that are worth more than any of my personal guns and I'd venture to say worth more than most people's rifles. That was the start to my love affair with firearms and I try to pass it on with anyone I can.

My wifes first experience with a centerfire rifle was with a rem 700 in an ai stock chambered in 308 from a complete stranger at the range. My rifles didn't look "cool" enough for her to be interested in. Now she wants me to build or buy one so she can shoot it.