No Such Thing As An Unloaded Firearm, Ever.
I can hear them now; ‘what do you mean all guns are loaded all the time?!’ ‘That’s stupid!’ ‘I have guns at home right now that are not loaded’! ‘Hell, I was at the gun store the other day, none of them guns behind the counter and on the wall rack were loaded’! I say, yes they are, they are all loaded, every gun at your house, every gun in that store, and everywhere else, they are all loaded. ‘Your Crazy, They Are Not’!…. If you don’t have the mindset that they are all loaded, and ready to fire, you are a prime candidate for a firearm accident, you assume too much, take to much for granted.
Even people with a high level of firearm experience can get ‘lazy’, over confident, are even more susceptible to accidents, when that happens they become ripe for an accident. And I will go so far as to say they don’t take firearms as seriously as they once did, they need to pause and ’regroup’. They have become a distinct danger to themselves and others with that lackadaisical mindset.
The NRA now says the first rule in firearm safety is: Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction,(muzzle discipline). That was not always so, and I will never agree with that change. As a kid, I distinctly remember the first rule being: Treat all firearms as loaded at all times. It conveys a far sterner, and implies a much stronger sense of urgency to safe firearm handling. And I still have my little red Jr. Rifle Handbook from the mid 1960s to prove it. Even though I will agree that pointing the gun in a safe direction is a key to safety, if you treat every single gun you come into contact with as loaded, you had better point that muzzle in a safe direction! No exceptions! That will, and should, naturally, always follow suit. Just handling a gun and keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction does not lend to the situation the same grave responsibilities as having the mindset of handling a loaded gun will impart.
All additional gun safety rules revert back to the number one rule: Treat them all as loaded. If you live by this you should never do anything unsafe with a firearm, that is why this is the most important rule. It governs all my actions with firearms, as it should yours. So, from this moment forward, for the rest of your life, all guns that you ever come into contact with will always, with no exceptions, be loaded (proper mindset) and treated accordingly.
A safety on a firearm does not give you license to carelessly handle that firearm, you are the best safety on any firearm. NEVER trust anyone that tells you a gun is unloaded while trying to hand it to you! Make that person show you that it is unloaded before you will accept it from them. Then, you must still handle it exactly like it is loaded! EVERYONE must show you the gun is unloaded, from your mother, to the gun shop owner, to the head of the NRA. Agreed? If all people did this, firearm accidents would damned near cease to exist, we can all live with that. If anyone has a problem with that, it is not your problem, but theirs, they obviously treat firearms far to nonchalantly, assume too much, and are accidents waiting to happen…..
Maybe you think that I am to ‘hard line’ on this issue? No. Firearms are very unforgiving of careless people, your first mistake could be your last breath on this Earth, or maybe someone else’s last breath due to your negligence. I do not believe there can be such a thing as to ‘hard line’ in regards to firearm safety.
{Note, If you agree, and I sincerely hope you do, please pass this on to the people in your life.} Thank you. And remember, Firearm Education Will Save Lives, Firearm Ignorance Can Take Lives.