just like alot of guns, an ar is a great starter gun for a noob. Chamber 1 bullet, hand it to the newbie, fix thier stance, fix thier grip, fix thier trigger finger, walk them through PID, front sight, rear sight, trigger press, reset.

Load 1 more round in, repeat. Next time load 2 rounds in, so on so forth until you know they arnt gonna go ape shit with the trigger

ANY gun in the hands of the completely untrained/inexperienced is dangerous and should be always avoided unless under the direct supervision of some one that knows what they are doing.

In tonys case, he has a good chance of being safe when getting it. I dont know him personally, but i would say he chances are pretty high for being safe.