Lastly, secure your firearms you uncultured swines that don't.
Not only for your safety, but the safety of your children if you have some. I hate that people don't follow this rule.
Saw an article recently about this 10 year old who shot his dad in the head while the dad slept next to the mother. Kid found the key to the gun storage when searching for the Nintendo Switch his dad took away from him, and he was angry at the dad, found the gun... Now he has no dad. Mom woke up to a loud bang and the sound of liquid pouring on the floor.
Devastating read. Really tragic.
That's horrible! That's why I went for a safe with a fingerprint reader. Easier access for me and harder access for the kids.
This is the way. Store your ammo separately too.
Does that come with a backup generator in case they cut off electricity?
It doesn't need backup power. It's just a small gun safe for a pistol.
Thieves love those. Just by looking at it, you know there's a gun in there. They're light and small enough you can pick up and steal the whole thing, no problem. Then, you can smash it open when you get somewhere else with no tools required. If you spike it like a football with both hands onto concrete and concentrate the force onto one of the lid's corners, it'll pop right open after a few tries. Most of the hinges can also be easily attacked if you have some basic tools and need to be quiet.
In hindsight it’s a small miracle neither I, my siblings, or my cousins ever got ourselves or someone else hurt with the guns that were casually left out at my grandparents’ house. It was drilled into me to never touch them without someone watching me first, but what if I’d just not given a fuck, you know? I can’t imagine doing the same with a kid today. Different times.
also the safety of the children and general community what live around you (if they enter into your calculations). when i was growing up, the neighbor was a professor at the prestigious university down the way. they thought it was enough to teach their kid gun safety and store the gun in a safe place in their room and for their house it was. problem was some dipshit who wanted to roll with the norteños across the way. broke into the professor's place, took their gun, shot at some other dipshits and was fortunately a terrible shot. ditched the gun, the police recovered it and brought it back. fortunately we were already paying our bribes so when they came around asking and i told them i didn't know, they believed me (they knew my tells already when i lied: we played poker for halloween candy thursdays after ~~karate~~ bribe practice and i suuuucked at poker😘)
Average Aussie here.. aside from on the hip of a police officer, the blokes moving money or on video, I haven’t even seen a gun in over 20 years.. good post for those who do hang around guns though
Unfortunately here in the US it’s increasingly pertinent information. It makes me want to pack up my family and leave to somewhere sane (er).
Australia is a great place, except that everything that isn't a gun is also trying to kill you.
New Zealand is like Aus's overly earnest cousin, but has better internet and not even on most maps.
Because guns are ubiquitous in the US, I taught our son, and his friends these rules as soon as they were able to understand and remember them, e.g. 10-13 years old. This is because should they encounter guns somewhere they need to immediately know if those firearms are being handled safely. And I told them to immediately leave the area to f they ever come across people handling guns in an unsafe manner.
Guns are still a thing here in Australia. It's just more balanced and reasonable than the USA.
My town has a shooting club, game reserves and is surrounded by farms. Seasonally we wake up to the sound of gunfire in the distance from hunters.
I've known professional people in the heart of our biggest cities who love nothing more than to head out bush and shoot feral animals when they can.
You won't stumble onto a firearm at your kids school for obvious reasons but there could be some under lock and key in a gun safe at your mates house. It's not unreasonable to know some basics.
Even if you don't like guns or even want to be around firearms, this is incredibly important information to understand. We live in a world of violence and weapons. Understanding how they work is important or at the very least how to not kill someone accidentally because you were ignorant.
If you see someone ignoring these rules, you know to look out, say something, or act. Whichever is the appropriate action. And, God forbid (or whateveryou might believe), you have to use a firearm, you understand the important rules of gun safety. Remember, you have to screw up multiple of the rules to cause a real deadly incident, if the gun goes off because your a dummy and put your finger on the trigger, but you had it pointed to the ground then likely everyone is okay and you are just an idiot. Safety first, always
Treat the barrel of a gun like it has an infinite length death laser pointing out of it at all times.
No, it doesn't matter if you just unloaded it, or saw someone else unload it. The barrel stays pointing down range and away from people.
If looking at a gun with someone else and they assure you it's not loaded, you can respectfully ask themn to clear it in front of you before you handle it yourself.
Would you have a good video of what that looks like? I don't think someone should be handling a gun if they're that unsure, but it still might be helpful to someone
You would "clear it" by "opening" the action. A firearm cannot be fired with the action open. What that looks like depends on the type of action.
Edit: It's a good firearm safety protocol to open the action before handing a weapon to someone. Always, always, always assume that it's loaded.
I don't have a specific video recommendation handy, but I'm sure if you punch "how to safely clear a [pistol/revolver/rifle/shotgun]" into YouTube you'll get 10,000 good results.
As a general overview though (and bear in mind that there's countless models of firearms out there, so there's bound to be some outliers that don't quite fit into this.)
Step 0. Make sure you are keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction and your finger off the trigger at all times.
Step 1. If there's a removable magazine, remove it.
Step 2. Pull back the slide/cocking handle/bolt/pump/lever, if there's a round in the chamber, this should eject it. There's an important reason to do this after removing the magazine, because releasing that mechanism will load the next round from the magazine there is one in there.
Step 3. Repeat that at least 1 more time to make extra sure that another round didn't get loaded. Keep going until no round ejects. For some guns where the magazine isn't removable, like some pump action shotguns, it can sometimes be quicker or more convenient to do that repeatedly than to remove the rounds manually.
Step 4. Lock open the action of the firearm and visually confirm that there is no round in the chamber and nothing in the magazine well.
Step 1R. (if you are clearing a Revolver.) Release the cylinder
Step 2R. Press the ejector rod to eject the rounds.
Step 3R. Visually confirm that all of the rounds have ejected.
Modification to the first one, at least for me — I don’t care if I literally just watched you check it in front me of me before handing it over, I’m still checking. Always. I would expect others to do the same. First, it is just a reassurance, and second, it shows I actually know how to check it myself.
Finally, I didn’t see it listed, but keep the safety on until you’re ready. This kinda goes with the “keep finger off trigger” rule, in that it offers an extra degree of protection.
I agree and I do the same! Like others have said this is for someone who might have just learned the 4 safety rules for the first time and I didn't want to dive into that just yet
Agreed, but I think they meant if you don’t know how to clear it.
When I got my gun, first thing I taught my wife was how to check and clear it. Then we played a game: check, clear, rack, pass. No magazine or rounds involved. So I’d get it from her, lock the slide back, check the magazine well, check the barrel from the top, hold it up to the light (trigger finger on the frame), then rack the slide, and pass it back — muzzle aimed down, as one does.
Definitely use a safety when present, but some guns intended for everyday carry do not have traditional safety switches. They rely on trigger and/or grip safeties to reduce the chance of negligent discharge.
Don't be discouraged if you look for a safety and can't find it. Just obey the other rules of firearm safety to minimize (because you'll never truly eliminate) the risk of injury.
To be honest, I don’t trust to safeties in general. I just assume all guns are loaded and that pulling the trigger will cause it to fire.
Its been 40 years and still have not come across one after having lived in multiple south american and European countries.
you didn't go through a major train station in London? there's usually armed guards there.
They said EUropean countries, not rope island /j
I really wish trigger discipline was a public service announcement. You know those commercials they used to put on the tv all the time about stop, drop, and roll for fire safety. I wish there was one for trigger discipline.
If you practice trigger discipline, it takes care of most the other rules. In a high stress or excitable situation, if you go into fight or flight mode, the first thing you do is make a fist without even realizing it. You don't want your finger to be hovering over the trigger when this happens.
I wonder how many lives would be saved if this was repeated enough to be made common knowledge.
I wonder how many lives would be saved if this was repeated enough to be made common knowledge.
Considering all of the times a child has accidentally discharged a firearm and killed someone, I don't think it's as many as the other rules.
Another rule - If you're actually firing a gun and never have, only load one bullet. I've seen plenty of videos where someone fires a second accidental shot because they weren't ready for the recoil. More of an issue with bigger caliber guns but firearm negligence can be fatal so don't fuck about.
Does every gun store have a jar for rounds they found in guns that have been handed to them?
I've never so much as touched a gun and I know all of this. I suppose I've just absorbed it through constant contact in my peripheral. Recent movies are getting trigger discipline better, but TV shows still get it wrong.
Also, couldn't most of this also apply to things like industrial paint guns or grease guns given the very real possibility for a horrible death by high-pressure injection with those?
In other words :
(This is meant to make the rules easy to remember, not to make fun of them)
Some years ago I acted as crew on an ultra-low budget film. We didn't have the budget for simulated firearms so we had to use real ones. Everyone involved in the project agreed that extreme care was warranted. We made certain that there was no live ammunition anywhere near the set. Firearms were locked up unless they were being held by a trained crew member or an actor. The actors were all taught the basics of how their firearms operated and how to check the chambers. The prop handlers and actors checked every firearm every time it changed hands, even when they had just watched the person who handed it to them check the chamber.
With all of that in place, we still insisted on following the other rules as well. Trigger discipline was maintained at all times, including while filming scenes. Camera angles were adjusted so that firearms never had to pointed at anyone or anything that we were not willing to damage. Actors were careful to keep their firearms pointed in the safe directions that had been arranged, even when simulating their use.
It was a fair amount of trouble and it added time to a very tight operation, but there were absolutely no incidents, or near incidents, or concerns that there might be an incident. That is how everyone who handles firearms should treat them in real life. It takes a little time and attention, but it isn't difficult. And following even one of the safety rules makes it impossible for anyone to be hurt accidentally.
Learning and following the safety rules is a cheap investment for the benefit of not accidentally killing someone.
With reading this I'm always amazed that incidents like the rust movie still happen.
If you set things up like this where everyone checks each other as well, it becomes really hard to somehow get a bullet on set, and then in a gun...
We were fortunate to have a producer/director who felt strongly about safety and was willing to spend the extra time necessary. A lot of the time, especially for productions that are running on a shoestring, everyone is pushed very hard to reduce the time and cost to an absolute minimum. The low pay selects for inexperienced armorers and the time constraints means that the armorer is constantly being pressured not to "waste" any time. An armorer who is believed to have "slowed down" a production may be fired and will have trouble finding more work. That is what happens everywhere when money is more important than people.
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