Whether for the holiday season, a birthday, or even to celebrate an accomplishment, gun owners tend to be generous people who enjoy gift giving. It might seem a good idea that a gun could be a nice gift for certain occasions, but there are some considerations about buying a gun for someone else.
Obviously, you wouldn’t buy a gun as a gift for someone who is ineligible to own a gun for legal or health reasons, but there are additional concerns about buying a gun using your own name when the gun is intended for a different recipient.
Close Family Members
A gun can be a great gift for a child who has come of age, or perhaps their high school graduation, as you know your child well enough to determine they will be a responsible gun owner as you have taught them. Likewise, a spouse can be a reasonable recipient for a gun, since you two essentially share money and bills and are around each other every day. It doesn’t really matter so much which of you makes the actual purchase as you are both going to responsible for the new gun in your home. Problems with giving a gun as a gift really apply more to people who don’t live in the home and for whom you don’t have direct oversight.
Friends and Distant Relatives
You might have a close friend who you see nearly every day, or perhaps a cousin or even a sibling you see throughout the year when your schedules allow, and a gun could be a seemingly great gift. However, you also have to consider whether there might be other factors you aren’t aware of concerning the person. Someone could potentially have bouts of depression which you aren’t aware of, or be susceptible to fits of anger which they keep private. In either of these cases, the misuse of a gun you gave them would make you feel horrible.
What to Consider First
The main consideration of buying a gun as a gift is whether or not it is even legal in your area. Typically, someone is expected to purchase their own gun and go through the appropriate background checks before finalizing the sale. Another factor might be they already have the weapons they want and need, or perhaps you aren’t aware they would prefer a different rifle but are perfectly happy with their current pistol. You might want to buy them a shotgun for a different type of shooting than you normally do together, only to find out they already own a shotgun but don’t enjoy it which is why they never mentioned it before. It just makes more sense with a purchase as important as a gun to let the recipient decide what they want.
There are other options available. Consider a gift card, so the recipient as a formality buys their own new gun. Otherwise, accessories for a gun they already own might make a great gift. Consider as well there are certain items such as knives and watches that gun owners tend to like which can be just as great of a gift.
~ Firearm Daily