Brother (28M) bought a rifle and told me (22F) not to tell parents (50s, 70s). I think they need to know.

Last night my brother told me in confidence that he obtained a gun permit and bought a rifle because he wants to get into shooting as a hobby. I personally enjoy shooting as a hobby as well, but was uncomfortable when he told me he had already bought a rifle. I don’t trust my brother to be a firearm owner.

He told me not to tell my parents under any circumstances, as they are wary of firearms, and they would tell him to return the rifle immediately. My brother is living with my dad right now and said that he would keep the rifle behind the sofa (???). It seems weird that he would keep a gun in a someone else’s home without informing the homeowner... My brother and I are close, and I don’t want to betray his confidence, but I also feel that it is not right to not let my dad know about this. My brother has (in my opinion) pretty bad anger issues, which although has improved over the years, he has not taken any professional steps to correct or improve them. He has also said threatening things about what he wanted to do to my dad and stepdad to me before, at the peak of his anger issues. This was years ago and hasn’t been as bad since, but I remain wary.

I talked to him last night about why I thought it is a bad idea for him to have any type of firearm right now (his anger issues, his past threats, etc.), and he responded by saying “I’m not an idiot” and “I won’t do anything” and “I have preventative measures to make sure I don’t do anything”. Why would you need preventative measures to “make sure” you don’t hurt someone with a gun??? I feel like that already shows that even he doesn’t even trust himself fully.

I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I don’t want to betray my brother’s confidence, but I think I need to let my dad know so that my dad can at least keep himself safe if he feels unsafe. I want to explain to my brother that I feel like our dad needs to know about this, without him getting angry or feeling betrayed. He was already getting annoyed with me last night when I made it clear that I was not okay with it, and he kept saying he would tell my dad eventually, but I know that means he won’t tell him at all. He made no promises that he would tell them even by the end of this year.

Is there anyway to go about this while maintaining trust between my brother and me, and also informing my dad? Is there anything else I should say or do? Or should I just go straight to my dad?... what do I do?

TL;DR : Brother bought gun. I don’t trust him to be a firearm owner. Need to tell my dad but don’t know how to do it without brother feeling “betrayed”.

Submitted July 04, 2019 at 04:41PM by queenliliana https://ift.tt/2FVp1It