Baldwin Shooting Proves Stupidity of Gun Banners But is There a Lesson?

Opinion

New Mexico/United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- By now, loyal Ammoland readers have head of the tragic incident involving Halyna Hutchins and Alec Baldwin on a New Mexico movie set. To put it bluntly, it was an accident that should not have happened. The ongoing investigation will determine the facts, and what, if any, charges will be appropriate.

Any loyal Ammoland reader knows the basic rules of firearms safety from the National Rifle Association:

• ALWAYS Keep The Gun Pointed In A Safe Direction
• ALWAYS Keep Your Finger Off The Trigger Until Ready To Shoot
• ALWAYS Keep The Gun Unloaded Until Ready To Use

Just following these rules can can greatly reduce the risk that a tragedy like the one in New Mexico will happen. When those rules are disregarded, as reports from multiple sources about this accident indicate, the risk of a tragedy increases.

Whatever one may think of their legislative tactics and strategy, the NRA has worked to educate those who would exercise their Second Amendment rights for decades. While anti-Second Amendment extremists talk “gun safety” (a phrase they have hijacked to pursue attacks on our rights), the real work has been done by the NRA for decades.

The NRA’s efforts to carry out education and training is one reason why we have seen the number of fatal accidents decrease over those same decades as the number of firearms in the United States has climbed. In essence, the NRA in this case has been modeling and preaching the type of actions that reasonable people would assume or expect that responsible gun owners would do.

The Baldwin tragedy is a chance for us to show that we are not like our enemies. While many are tempted to dunk on Baldwin, given his history of anti-Second Amendment extremism, and doing so would be understandable, it is also the type of self-destructive move that could only help the likes of Bloomberg.

For one thing, we are at a serious media disadvantage. The fact is, anti-Second Amendment extremists get passes from the media all the time. See, for instance, a certain deceased United States Senator whose vehicle killed more people than the firearms owned by the vast majority of loyal Ammoland readers.

There is another thing: Just about anyone who seeks to responsibly exercise their Second Amendment rights has that nightmare at some point that despite all their caution, something could go wrong, and there could still be an accident. The best thing to do is to wait for the facts to come out.

Second Amendment supporters who wish to brush up on their training can and should check out the NRA’s various offerings. There are over 125,000 NRA-certified firearms instructors across the country who can keep you up to date. Also, pass these on to friends, family members, or others you know who either are exercising their Second Amendment rights, or those who are thinking about it. This could save them the agony that those tied in to that tragic movie set accident are going through right now.

About Harold Hutchison

Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.