The man said the request sounded simple at first. His girlfriend wanted him to take her nephews to the shooting range. He was experienced with guns, and the boys were interested, so on the surface it probably looked like a good chance to teach them something useful.
But he had already seen how the nephews acted around BB guns, and that changed everything.
According to the Reddit post, the boys did not listen well and had already shown unsafe habits with BB guns. That mattered to him because a BB gun is often where young shooters first learn discipline. It is where they learn not to point at people, not to treat the trigger like a toy, and not to ignore an adult who tells them to stop.
The original Reddit post can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/v9eoiz/aita_for_not_taking_my_nephews_to_the_shooting/
To the man, the nephews had already failed the first test. If they could not follow basic safety rules with something less powerful, he did not want to put real firearms in the mix. That was not him being dramatic. That was him understanding that a range is not the place to find out whether a kid might listen this time.
His girlfriend did not like the answer. From her view, he was shutting the boys out of something they wanted to do. She may have seen the range trip as a fun family outing or a learning opportunity. He saw it as a responsibility that would fall directly on him if anything went wrong.
That is where the disagreement really took off. He was not saying the nephews could never learn. He was saying they were not ready yet. Before he would take them anywhere near live firearms, he wanted to see that they could listen, follow directions, and take safety seriously without arguing or goofing around.
The problem was that his refusal probably sounded harsh to people who were not thinking about the liability. Taking kids shooting is not like taking them to a movie. If they get bored, excited, embarrassed, or defiant, the adult supervising them has to be able to stop the problem immediately. There is no room for “boys will be boys” when loaded guns are involved.
He also had to think about the setting. Public ranges have rules, other shooters, range officers, loaded firearms, and strangers on both sides. A child who turns around with a muzzle, touches something he was told not to touch, or ignores a cease-fire can create panic fast. Even if nobody gets hurt, it can get everyone removed from the range and leave the adult responsible for the mess.
The man’s position was blunt but clear: the nephews had not earned that level of trust yet. If they wanted to shoot someday, they needed to start by proving they could handle the boring parts first. Listening. Waiting. Keeping the muzzle pointed safely. Taking correction without attitude. Treating even a BB gun like something that deserves respect.
Commenters mostly sided with the man. Many said he was right not to take children to a shooting range if he already knew they ignored safety rules. Several people pointed out that responsible gun owners do not give inexperienced kids a pass just because they are excited.
Some commenters said the boys could still learn, but not at a live-fire range right away. They suggested starting with dry-fire instruction, safety talks, or supervised BB gun practice where the first goal is not hitting a target but following commands perfectly. If they could not do that, they were not ready for the next step.
Others focused on the girlfriend’s reaction. They said she might not understand how serious range safety is if she has not spent much time around firearms. To her, it may have sounded like he was being mean. To experienced shooters, it sounded like he was refusing to take on a risk he knew was not under control.
A few commenters also said he should not let anyone guilt him into supervising a range trip he was uncomfortable with. If he was the experienced adult and the one expected to manage the firearms, he had every right to say no until the kids proved they could listen.
The post ended with a clear line between wanting to teach someone and being willing to gamble on them. The man was not against the boys learning to shoot. He was against putting real guns in their hands before they had shown they could respect even the smaller ones.
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