Cut Burned And Shot?
In reality, firearms safety is probably an oxymoron when one discusses those everyday events called life. Firearms are, in fact, designed to do two things. One, to stop someone from attacking my family, my partner or myself. Two, to hunt or shoot something I intend to eat. The most logical place to apply safety correctly would be in the middle of a fight. If I can do it well there, I could do it anywhere else, at home or at the range.
So if we know what the firearm safety rules are, why is it we keep shooting ourselves and others? And to set the record straight, many people — civilians, police and military — have had negligent or accidental weapons discharges. So let’s put firearms safety in perspective with some other dangerous things we deal with on a daily basis.
Fire & Knives
Fire is taken for granted in today’s high-tech world, yet, it’s hard to find anything on earth held more highly in regard. Don’t think much of fire? Here’s an image for you:We are sitting together, I take a stick match, strike it, and as the blue sulfur bulb bursts into flame, I reach over to touch your hand with the glowing flame. You look at me like I’m from Mars, “Are you nuts or what?” And probably, if you’re smart, you’ll have moved your hand. And why do we hold fire in high regard? We’ve all been burned. Long before guns, steel ruled the planet. Even with the advent of firearms, steel continued to hold a place of honor on the battlefield. As late as the Korean War, bayonet charges heaped laurels upon the officers and men who carried them out. What of steel? Why the interest in the Tueller drill, in which a threat can cover the allotted ground with steel before most can deploy the firearm? Why? Because even if shot well, many threats continue to fight — and at arm’s length a knife never runs out of ammunition.
Don’t think much of steel? Here’s an image for you. We’re sitting together at the table and I whip out a pocketknife. As I lean across and place the blade over your hand, said-hand will probably be smartly withdrawn as you yet again ponder: “What, are you nuts or something?” See, I told you we hold steel in high regard. Everyone reading this has been cut: paper cut, shaving cut, cleaning a deer cut or just messing around with a knife cut. If you see steel and you are smart, you’ll back up.
Guns
I venture to say, without much reservation, at least once in every class I teach I see someone cover themselves — or someone else — with the muzzle of a firearm. As you call them to task on it the often-heard reply is “Oh don’t worry, it’s not loaded.”
I sincerely believe the reason we have such a casual attitude toward guns and gun handling is the fact almost everyone has never been shot before. Trust me, you can tell the people in class who have been shot. Here’s a concept: If everyone signing-up for a class did the initial paper work, and then we lined them up on the porch and shot them in the leg — after the hospital visit — the class would start and I believe there would be a whole different attitude about gun handling. The reason we are careless with firearms is because the majority of people have never been shot.
Applying logic, if some idiot puts you down-range in a course of instruction to have other students shoot around you — or shoot targets you were holding — in the name of getting you “acclimated to incoming fire” he is a fool, and so are you for doing it. I have seen plenty of accidental discharges where projectiles went down-range during just regular handling, loading and firing drills. “Oops, sorry I shot you in the head, it was an accident.” What happened to auditory exclusion? What happened to you never hear the round that hits you? What happened to “I didn’t hear the rifle go off when I shot the trophy elk while under the influence of an adrenalin dump?” At the minimum? If you do this goofy stuff — make sure your instructor has verifiable insurance.
