Gun Safety: Does It Start In The Home Or The Gun Shop...?

[SteyrAUG]

Jesus, you'd think if ANYONE would know not to point a gun at another person it should be the guy behind the counter with over 20 years experience.

[markm]

Maybe ONE of those guns isn't in line with the guy in front of it, but no way both are safe.

[Safetyhit]

You know I appreciate your commentary here as well as you as a person, but to be honest this be a wee bit of nit-picking my good man.

Not worth your time.

[Moose-Knuckle]

If you don't follow the OP's "Four Rules" FB page, this is from one of his postings over there.

[Safetyhit]

If you don't follow the OP's "Four Rules" FB page, this is from one of his postings over there.

I've seen it and while not a member of facebook appreciate his efforts. That said I'm about as worried that the fairly knowledgeable man who possibly appears to be holding the HK pointed at his co-worker without his finger on the trigger is about to commit involuntary manslaughter as I am that my grandmother is going to come slash the tires on my vehicle because I didn't call her yesterday.

There are so many genuine issues with firearm handling that to find one with this all circumstances considered seems trivial. These men are not part of our overall problem.

[SteyrAUG]

You know I appreciate your commentary here as well as you as a person, but to be honest this be a wee bit of nit-picking my good man.

Not worth your time.

I could not disagree more. With the exception of the rare mechanical failure, all unintended shootings are the result of a violation of one of four basic rules of gun safety. These are all preventable and nobody is exempt.

If you can't follow those four simple rules, you shouldn't own a gun. Jackasses who think they are "safe enough" are the ones end up unintentionally shooting people. And if people in a gun shop can't observe the basic rules of gun safety, why should anyone else think they should be required to?

The "rules are for other people" who don't have my experience mindset is exactly the problem. How many reports have we seen of dipshits shooting somebody with a gun because "it wasn't loaded?" Why should we assume these guys are any different?

This isn't "nit picking" this is me being completely fed up. We criticize those who "open carry" in a provocative way because it hurts us. Well how about people who can't follow four simple rules and contribute to everything required for a "negligent discharge"? Which one hurts us more?

[Safetyhit]

Technically yes, maybe one of these guys is breaking a fundamental rule, although there is no way to tell if either barrel is pointed at a either man or just in front of them. Regardless NDs aren't what drive gun control, mass murders and minority generated crime stats are. Glad you want to keep people safe but again these guys are not our problem.

Want to spread an effective message and be heard? Start a page that calls for advocating accountability for minority generated crime. Bet it would be hassle free as well as rewarding.

[CoryCop25]

A great man and firearms trainer once told me this....
Follow the 4 rules. If you break one of them, you will be OK. If you break any two of them at the same time, there will be a problem.
With that said, I wish I had a dollar for every person who has asked to handle a gun and flagged me with his/her finger on the trigger as they "felt" how the gun fit in their hands.
With that said, if you piss a customer off by calling them on their improper gun handling skills you could loose the sale.
This is why I always check the chamber before and after I hand the gun to a customer.

[austinN4]

For me, it started at home, and was continually reinforced as I progressed thru Cub, Boy and Explorer Scouts, and the Army.

Today, too many adults pass their poor safety habits on to their kids, and most of the kids in this country never experience the Scout and military experience a lot of us did.

[SteyrAUG]

Technically yes, maybe one of these guys is breaking a fundamental rule, although there is no way to tell if either barrel is pointed at a either man or just in front of them. Regardless NDs aren't what drive gun control, mass murders and minority generated crime stats are. Glad you want to keep people safe but again these guys are not our problem.

Want to spread an effective message and be heard? Start a page that calls for advocating accountability for minority generated crime. Bet it would be hassle free as well as rewarding.

While the guy on the left isn't flagging yet, BOTH are unacceptably close. If somebody you didn't know swung a muzzle that close to your kids head I suspect you'd form a different opinion.

And I'm not trying to stop gun control with this message. I'm trying to stop careless firearms handling that results in somebody unintentionally shooting another person. And these guys ARE our problem, they are holding guns.

Anyone holding a gun in an unsafe manner IS the problem. It would have been just as simple for them to take almost the same exact picture with their muzzles both pointed in a safe direction. I'm not asking them to take a safety class, just observe the basic rules of gun safety which they SHOULD already know.

But more importantly, this is an EASY problem to solve, four very simple rules. If everyone with a gun would just be a little more responsible than the guys in the picture, we could eliminate all those accidents and people wouldn't have to live with the fact that they shot or killed somebody when they didn't mean to.

I suspect you don't like careless drivers on the highway who put others at risk? So I wonder why you are more accepting of people who are being careless with firearms?

And if we can solve this very simple problem, then maybe we can take a shot at something difficult to solve like people who want more gun regulation or minority driven crime or crimes committed by Eskimos or whatever you like.

But this one is easy, all we have to do is tell people when they are doing things that are unacceptable with firearms and make sure we follow the same four rules ourselves. That's it, it is really that simple.