So You Think You are Safe

Most people believe they are safe gun handlers.  Many do not believe they need training.

All the classes I teach and all the classes I go to start with a safety brief.  Lots of time it’s just a reminder of what we already know, but reminders are good.

I’ve been doing this professionally for more than 20 years and carried a gun for a living for almost 19 years total.  It’s a long time with a lot of training.  I can still use the refresher and the reminder.

They say there are two kinds of people when it comes to gun safety; those who have had a negligent discharge and those that are going to have one.  Which one are you?

I’ve had one, almost 25 years ago.  I was 17 or 18 out on the range with my friends and family.  Even then we had safety protocols in place so that no one got hurt.  And we where ruthless with each other on them.  I didn’t know who Jeff Cooper was yet, but we had the first two down as part of our family brief:  Treat everything as it was loaded.  And never point the gun at anything you don’t intend to destroy. 

Ours sounded like; you don’t F with guns.  They aren’t a toy; someone could get hurt or dead.  Second was keep the gun pointed down range at all times.  When you aren’t shooting, guns go on the table facing down range.  When handling, always point it down range. 

The second one saved someone from getting hurt on the line.  We were out in our favorite spot in the California Desert shooting clays with shotguns.  It was rather red-neck of us, but two or three of us would stand on line with guns and one person would stand at the end and hand throw clays for us.

Then it was bragging rights to see who could get a hit first.  We just kept a box of shells at our feet and topped off the gun between throws.

I was topping of my gun and realized I forgot to put the gun on safe.  There I am, standing on the line, trying to balance the gun, butt against my thigh, barrel pointed down range, shoving shells in the gun with one hand and trying to put the safety on a Remington 870 with the other.  Probably would have gotten away with it, if there hadn’t been a round in the chamber.

You can see where this went bad.  I missed the safety, the gun shifted and discharged into the air.  No harm no foul… except my ego.  Of course a yell came down the line, “what the F#$$? Was that you?”  Of course my ego kicked in and I said no.

It was like when two people are in an elevator and one person farts… everyone knows who done it.

When we do unsafe things on the range the only person we are fooling is ourselves.

This is how we all look when we do something unsafe on the range (https://youtu.be/MKhOAqhXMhA?t=14). 

And we all have a stupid answer to the obvious question just like this guy did.

Own your mistakes and learn from them.  I’ve been caught and embarrassed more then once.  One of the last times was when Tom Givens caught me at one of his classes with the gun coming off target and my finger still on the trigger with pressure.  He was right to ream me.  I disserved more then he gave.  But he is a gentleman and a scholar and only yells as much as he needs.  One reminder had me minding that for the rest of the class. 

Here I am over three years later, and I remember it like yesterday.  I own my shit.

What about you?  Can you own your worst mistakes with a gun?  You will have to.  Recoverable mistakes (those where no one gets hurt) can be covered and forgotten.  Don’t you do it.  Remember so you don’t do it again.  If you have an Unrecoverable mistake (someone gets hurt) everyone will make you own it.  And it could cost you everything you own, ever will own, and your freedom.  The stakes are only your life.

Maybe we could all use a refresher from time to time.  The stakes are too high to just blow it off.

Stay Safe,

Ben