Current Location: Home : Firearms : Juuhoukata Chap. 1-3

Most definately don't skip this section. Most firearms tragedies could have been avoided if the shooter had followed simple, common-sense safety guidelines. The news is full of "accidental discharges", grieving parents saying "The gun just went off", or the consequences of carelessness. Every one of them could have been prevented had the gun been handled correctly. In fact, I feel so strongly about safety that I feel confident in stating that this section is, without a doubt, the most important part of this document a gun owner could read.

Let's get one thing straight: There are no "accidental" discharges. The gun functioned exactly as it was designed. The problem came when someone pulled the trigger when they shouldn't have. There are unintentional discharges; but when a gun fires, it was no accident. Someone pulled the trigger; the gun didn't do it by itself.

So that brings us to our first, and most important, safety rule:
Never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire.
95% of all firearms accidents could have been prevented by following this simple rule.

When I was attending the 2-week Firearms Instructor class given by the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, they showed us a video clip of an arrest of a dangerous subject. A female officer was covering the suspect- who was laid prone on the pavement- with her handgun while her partner moved in to place handcuffs on him. As the partner knelt beside the suspect, the female officer's gun discharged. You could clearly see the bullet strike the pavement not a foot in front of the suspect's face. Luckily for everyone involved, no one was hurt. (Note: Before someone flames me for saying females can't shoot or shouldn't be cops; realize that I'm not saying that at all. The gender of the officer is unimportant. Lighten up.)

So, what happened? That's right; the officer had her finger on the trigger when she shouldn't have. This was a tense situation; I don't blame her one bit for being nervous, and it was inevitable that she would be clenching her weapon harder than usual. But this is precisely why her finger should have been off the trigger. It takes a fraction of a second to move your finger from a position alongside the frame into the trigger guard. There's no reason for your finger to be in there until the moment before firing.

But she did do something right: She wasn't aiming directly at the suspect. That's rule #2:
Never point your gun at anything you don't want to destroy.
"Destroy" is a strong word, and I chose it deliberately. If you put a bullet in your TV set, you've destroyed it. If you put a bullet in a person, you will most likely destroy their life. If you did it in error, you will probably destroy your life as well. Imagine that there's a super-powerful laser beam emanating from the muzzle of your gun. Whatever it crosses will be destroyed. Don't point it where it shouldn't go.

I hate to harp on these things, but never forget these two rules.

There are other rules that are equally important. They are:

• Treat every firearm as if it is loaded at all times. This applies to all firearms that are in your possession, including those that you "know" are unloaded. There have been far too many people killed with firearms they "knew" were unloaded.
• Never handle firearms while intoxicated, taking debilitating drugs, or otherwise impaired. I shouldn't have to say this one. If you're too tired to see straight, you're too tired to handle a gun.
• Never get complacent. Target and sport shooting is fun, and that fun-factor makes people complacent. Never forget what you are handling- a tool that can be very destructive when mishandled.
• Always wear eye and ear protection. No, you won't have it on the street; but how often are you going to be firing your gun on the street? Save your hearing. Ignore the macho temptation to go without. Machoism has no place in firearms handling. Eye protection is needed, too; sometimes things go badly wrong.
• No smoking or eating while on the range. There's an amazing amount of lead in the air on a firing range, and a lot of it will get on you, your clothes, and your hands. Firearms Instructors and Rangemasters are just beginning to realize the seriousness of lead poisioning, and taking precautions such as these to avoid it.
• Inspect your firearm and ammunition before firing it. I've experienced baffling malfunctions from new, factory ammunition that had defects. Nothing's perfect, including ammo. And never fire a weapon whose safety you're unsure about. Have it inspected by a gunsmith first.
• Never hand off a firearm with the action closed. This is simple etiquette with a serious purpose. Always open the cylinder on revolvers and lock the slide to the rear on semi-autos before handing the gun to another person. This lets them know that it's safe to take.
• Keep the muzzle pointed downrange at all times. This goes along with the "laser" rule.

If you're shooting at an organized range, they may have additional rules and regulations. Check with the rangemaster before beginning to find out what they are.

A note about guns and children: They don't mix, unsupervised. If you want to teach your children how to shoot and to respect firearms, I'm all for it- but make sure that your weapons and ammunition are never left someplace where anyone but you can access them. Buy a safe, find a locked closet; but do something to keep unsupervised weapons out of irresponsible hands. I don't care for trigger locks, as they are far too easily defeated by children - I found away around one when I was 10 - but they're better than nothing.

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