The vast majority of people who own guns are law-abiding, decent people who keep their firearms to protect themselves from legitimate threats. They might misjudge the threat from time to time, but it’s still generally clear they’re well-meaning.

But from time to time, we find people who are prime examples of how not to be a gun owner.

A Whitefish Bay man is accused of pulling out a gun during trick-or-treating on Sunday, Oct. 30. Police reports say before he pulled a gun, he told a group of kids to “get out of my neighborhood.”

FOX6 News is not naming the man arrested because he has not yet been charged.

Neighbors called police after hearing the yelling and seeing the gun. One neighbor saw it all happen while trying to pass out candy with his son.

…

A Whitefish Bay man was arrested for first-degree recklessly endangering safety and being intoxicated while armed. Police reports say a Breathalyzer test showed he was three times over the legal limit.

When police interviewed the man, he said he saw several kids who started to “scramble” around a sedan. He added, “I could tell they were not residents of the area.”

When the man told the kids to leave, both sides started yelling. The man said he felt threatened because they pointed their hands at him like a gun and yelled, “I got you mother (expletive).” That’s when he told police he got his gun.

Yeah, uh, that’s not grounds to pull a gun on someone.

Oh, you want to report a threat to the police? By all means. While I doubt the kid would be prosecuted, calling law enforcement in such a circumstance makes sense.

However, unless you have reason to believe the kid can propel 124-grain projectiles out of that finger at 1,200 feet per second or something similar, you’re not justified in threatening lethal force over a finger.

You’re just not.

Currently, the man is facing charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and being intoxicated while armed, though he told the news all charges had been dismissed. Law enforcement disagreed, however, simply stating they haven’t had a chance to file them.

Look, folks, there is a time and a place to pull a gun. You need to know them and understand them. If your life is not actually in danger, you don’t get to pull the gun on another person.

In our list of how not to be a gun owner, this comes pretty close to the top of what not to do.

To be sure, alcohol likely played a factor in the matter and presents a good example of why guns and alcohol don’t mix. Of course, to be fair, if the man’s life actually had been in danger and he defended himself with that gun, I’d likely not say a thing. You don’t actually give up your rights because you had a drink. If that were the case, drunk Facebooking wouldn’t be a thing.

Yet just because you should be allowed to do a thing doesn’t mean you should actually do that thing.

We’ll see whether the man does actually gets charged. Either way, learn from this one.