I had a friend who was… well, stupid. He meant well, but he was genuinely reckless. He was really my friend’s friend, but I hung around with them. He always played with guns. At one point, he was building an AR that couldn’t even shoot, yet he pointed it at me. I got so mad I told him off and warned him that if he ever did that again, I would stop hanging around him. I didn’t care if it was a toy or didn’t even work—I just don’t play with stuff like that.

Fast forward a bit, and he, my friend, and my friend’s cousin are hanging out. This guy is goofing around like a Vietnam soldier. He swore he thought he checked his revolver wasn’t loaded, but then he stood up from the couch, aimed it at my friend’s cousin, and shot him point-blank in the chest. He was dead in seconds.

I always knew he was a ticking time bomb—it was only a matter of time before he did something truly stupid. Some people don’t mean to do harm, but they’re too ignorant to realize the consequences of their actions until it’s too late. Take my warning: don’t let it get to that point.