Podcast 271 Addressing Firearms Safety or Lack There of

What do you do when something unsafe happens or is going to happen?

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Today: Firearms safety is always the most fun you could ever talk about, right?  Sarcasm implied there.

No one really wants to talk about firearms safety.  We all just want it magically to happen to us and everyone around us.  But, like everything else in life it takes work.

What can you do if someone around you is being unsafe with a firearm?

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Story that inspired this episode:

The last class I took, we were sitting around a big conference table as the instructor gave the safety briefing. Immediately after the safety briefing, as we were getting ready to go into the range, the idiot across the table from me takes his Glock out of his range bag and racks the slide, AND I’M LOOKING DOWN THE MUZZLE.   I told him that if he pointed his gun at me again, that he and I were going to have a serious problem. I thought he should have been kicked out of the class, but the instructor just told him to be more careful.  This was no more than 30 seconds after the safety briefing. Needless to say I never felt safe for the rest of that class.

Anyway, keep up the good work Ben.

Stay safe,

Addressing Firearms Safety:

Problems for instructors in class:

• Everyone has to have the gun on right now
• Can’t sit still, like a bunch of kids at Christmas
• Target focus on getting started and here Charlie Brown’s teacher

Couple Issues from the past:

• Training a guy at the armored car company and kicked him for pointing a gun at me
• Soldier pointing a rifle at me in the chow hall overseas
• Shotgun pointed at me at a gun shop
• Shooting Steel with a rifle at 50 yards and having someone ask me about it

Solutions?

• Culture of Safety from Paul Lathrop of The Polite Society Podcast
• Firm, Quick, and Polite… they are holding a gun with the appropriate reaction
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVtjjPMN2KY
• See Something Say Something
• Talk to the instructor for more clarification on things
• I’ve bee too close to some horrible incidents that it makes me Paranoid
  • 1999 Police Academy instructor shot a cadet while demoing firearms disarms
  • 2002 Marine killed during blank-fire exercise in MOUT town
  • Multiple Police cover-ups on neglect discharges
  • Military uses empty rifles and guns all the time and doesn’t police safety 24/7
• Safety Violations are a huge leadership challenge
  • Loaded weapons involved
  • Egos the size of building (more people more ego)
  • Lack of Knowledge
  • Lack of trust
  • Lots of people around
• Tips:
  • Take ownership of everything including what the other person is doing.  What can you do to make it better?
  • Praise in Public, Criticize in Private
  • Ask if you can help
  • Be able to explain yourself emotionally and logically
  • Ask Questions… with actual curiosity
  • Play to their egos
  • Get help from range staff or others
  • Leave
• Huge Leadership Challenge
  • Takes practice
  • Will do it well and badly
  • If we all work at it we can all get better
  • We could all be a little more paranoid about firearms safety
  • We could all improve

Handle your weapon every time like the instructor you admire the most is watching and like your kids are watching and how you want them to do it.

Thanks for listening, don’t forget to check out the Shooter’s Club, and if you need ammo check out Lucky Gunner.

Stay Safe,

Ben