Introduction to Firearm Safety
A firearm is a tool. A tool that can be a joy to practice with, but one who's original purpose should never be forgotten. Put bluntly, firearms started out as a tool meant to kill other living things. All firearms retain that ability and there is inherent danger in their misuse. Nothing (that we can control) can hurt the public image of firearms owners than demonstrated unsafe firearms handling.
Years ago, the father of modern shooting, Jeff Cooper, outlined four redundant rules of gun safety. Redundant means that the rules overlap, if you break one the rest will prevent a firearms accident from being a tragedy. If you follow them diligently you will probably never have a firearms mishap. Or, if you do, the damage will be minimal.
Rule
#1 All guns are always loaded.
Always
assume, and treat any gun as if loaded, especially if you have not
personally cleared it. This prevents the very common “I thought it
was unloaded” mistakes.
Rule
#2 Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to
destroy.
If
you aren’t willing to break or kill it, don’t point a gun at it.
So called “muzzle sweeps” are simply unacceptable. Naturally
sometimes a holstered gun might point at someone or some part of your
body, or someone might walk in front of a gun on a table. But guns
almost never go off unless someone is handling them.
Rule
#3 Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the
target.
This
is a basic firearms manipulation. You should never be walking around
with your finger on the trigger, gun on safe, unloaded or not. The
last thing you do before you pull the trigger, is put your finger on
the trigger.
Rule
#4 Identify your target, and what is behind it.
Many
people have been killed or injured because a shooter wasn’t sure of
their target. That’s why we wear hunter’s orange. If you’re
hunting, make sure you see a deer. At the range, make sure you’re
looking at a target with a good backstop, and at home make sure the
guy coming through the window in the middle of the night isn’t your
son or daughter sneaking back in the house.
That being said I have seen firearms accidents happen for three main reasons.
Lack of respect for weapons and ignorance of the four rules (I'm a man I know how to handle a gun it's on the Y chromosome... BOOM) Never mind that they haven't handled a gun since their mom sold their red rider at a yard sale after they left for college.
Lack of familiarity with a firearm or nervousness (how do you get this loaded magazine out? Hmm do I hit this switch...BOOM) I advocate a lot of in the house, unloaded practice with a firearm and a complete disassembly and maintenance cycle before you ever put the first round in at the range.
Complacency. This is the one that gets long time shooters. You've been handling guns for years, you've put three thousand rounds though this one running around in matches etc etc (Hey Bob, you how are things going at work, Fine Steve we just got the new BOOM). This one has happened to me, luckily I only violated one of the rules and the round went harmlessly in to the berm.
Anyway, if you respect firearms, understand how they work and don't become complacent it is possible to violate ONE of the rules at a time. But it's only a good idea if you get some kind of experience/training benefit from it. I used to run around the woods getting paid to point weapons at people and pretend to kill them. Now I might dry fire at the TV, or practice clearing the house with some one hiding from me, or test a new scope on a traffic sign at the end of the street. But you can bet the farm that I checked the chamber multiple times before doing so.
On a final note, I seriously recommend the use of hearing and eye protection while shooting. Shooting without using ear protection will eventually destroy your hearing, forever. And no matter what, sometimes things (rocks or bullet fragments) bounce back at you. It only has to happen once before you are condemned to dressing up as a pirate every Halloween from now on.
Be safe People.
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