Don’t Become a Bad Stat and Learn How to Handle a Firearm Safely.

Have you heard,“if you own a gun it will more likely shoot someone you love versus shooting an intruder”? 

We have to be diligent in being safe as gun owners and we don’t want to add to this stat by allowing our firearm to be used in an unintentional shooting. 

Almost all of these unintentional shootings happen as a result of poor gun safety and this article will lay out how you can be a more responsible gun owner. 

But First, before we get into gun safety I would like to explain why I think the number of unintentional shootings is so high. The number is so inflated because of gang bangers and drug dealers. 

Let me explain: According to the FBI’s database there are around 1000 accidental shootings resulting in death per year. Of those accidental shootings between 15-30% are reported to be accidental shootings by gang members. Now, you are thinking, that isn’t even a majority. So, how could this be the problem?  Let’s dig in deeper. 

When you lay out the neighborhoods where these accidental shootings occur and compare them to areas with high gang activity, a large portion of these accidental shootings happen in areas known for gang activity and within houses with known gang members. These accidental shootings do not go in as “gang related” since they are accidental and not a part of an official gang activity. Check out the next 3 maps. The first map shows the number of gang members by county.(https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs38/38661/images/mapA4.jpg)  Map 2 overlays gang involvement in drug distribution. (https://www.gangenforcement.com/gang-maps.htmlMap) and map 3 overlays unintentional shootings. (https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/charts-and-maps)

Did you notice any correlations between drug and gang areas and unintentional shootings? I suppose one could argue that drug dealers and gang members are typically going to be isolated to more populated areas and these more populated areas are going to have more gun owners and therefore more unintentional shootings. However, if you were to go to the site gunviolencearchive.org, look at the interactive map of unintentional shootings, then zoom into an area that has the most unintentional shootings. Then, in a separate window, look up “gangs in (fill in the blank with the town)” and do a side by side comparison of the map of gangs in a town with the unintentional shootings map, you would see that a majority of these “unintentional shootings” happen in the gang populated areas of these heavily populated cities. 

The US doesn’t have a gun problem, we have a gang and drug problem. These gang bangers and drug dealers are showing off their gun and BANG, or they are carrying without something guarding the trigger and they go to pull it out and it catches on something and BANG, or they play with their gun while drunk or high and BANG, or they just leave their guns sitting around the house, not secured with children in the house and BANG. When these gang bangers and drug dealers report what happened they don’t disclose, “oh by the way I am in a gang” or “I am a drug dealer”. They claim they were hanging out with friends or family at their house and a firearm just went off. Therefore the numbers of accidental shootings are way inflated and don’t properly reflect the responsible family with a gun in the home. 

We have identified that the majority of these unintentional shootings happen in gang and drug infested areas, but not all of these shootings happen in those areas. Some of these unintentional shootings will take place in really nice neighborhoods or out in the middle of the countryside. Even though gang bangers and drug dealers skew the number of unintentional shootings to look much worse than they really are, we still don’t want to become part of that stat. 

Also, if you are a gang member or drug dealer and reading this article. I don’t condone your lifestyle and am tired of seeing innocent children dying because you don’t know how to properly handle a firearm. Keep in mind many of these dying children are members of your own family or neighborhood. I am not going to convince you in this article to give up the life you are living but hopefully I can give you advice to keep your gun from being used in an unintentional shooting. Please read on and learn how to properly handle a firearm so you don’t shoot someone close to you on accident.

So, how do you prevent yourself from becoming a stat? You must always practice proper gun safety. 

The first rule of Gun Safety is to always handle all guns as if they are loaded. If you handle all firearms as if they are loaded you should never destroy something you don’t wish to destroy. Even if you have triple checked a firearm you should still treat it as if it is loaded. 

The second rule of Gun Safety is to always make sure your “primary safety” is on. You may say, “Well I own a glock and don’t have a manual safety”. I’m not talking about the actual safety on your gun. Your “primary safety” is your trigger finger. Your trigger finger should NEVER be on the trigger unless you are 100% ready to destroy something. 

What is “flagging or sweeping” in regards to guns? Flagging is when the muzzle of a firearm points at yourself or another person unintentionally. “Sweeping” is often used interchangeably with “flagging”. Flagging has a military background to the term and I have heard sweeping used more by civilians when referring to sweeping yourself. The number one reason people flag themselves is when holstering their weapon improperly, causing the shooter to sweep their own hip or thigh. The second reason people flag themselves is while opening or moving something with their off hand they move their hand in front of the muzzle. It doesn’t matter if you are showing a pistol to a friend or duck hunting in a bling. You should never point a firearm at another human unless you are willing to cause that person harm. 

Practice makes perfect. In this instance I am inclined to say “perfect practice makes perfect”. When training with a firearm there is no room for error in your safety protocols. The best way to be safe is to make a conscious effort to practice safety. 

The safest way to practice gun safety at home would be to invest in an airsoft or training gun. Some of these training guns will have moving parts while others don’t but the one thing they all have in common is that they offer the safest way possible to practice handling a gun without the danger of firing a deadly round. Airsoft guns come in most of your more popular models  and you should purchase one that is the most similar to the weight, operation, and size as the gun you will be using the most. 

Best practices for practicing gun safety with your firearm:

• Remember rule 1, you should assume all guns are loaded.

• Remember rule 2, your “primary safety”.

• Make sure there is no ammo in your area.

• Make sure all magazines in your practice area are empty of all ammo

• Triple check the chamber pulling the slide back and engaging the slide stop, visually inspect the barrel by looking through the extraction port and then putting your finger through the extraction port to feel for an empty barrel. NEVER look down the barrel of a gun from the muzzle. 

• you may begin practicing your hand placement, drawing from concealment, racking the slide, dropping the magazine, holstering, magazine changes, and dry firing. 

• It is a good practice to look in a mirror while practicing your drawing, dry firing, and gun manipulations. Remember you are looking to make sure you aren’t flagging yourself when drawing, supporting with your off hand, and holstering.  

At this point, even though we know the gun is unloaded, we still ASSUME ALL GUNS ARE LOADED. So, NEVER point a gun at another person and when dry firing always point your gun in a safe direction. If you are dry firing in a home you will want to point your weapon away from all interior walls and face a wall that either has a brick backing or does not face another house or apartment. Your bullet will penetrate through drywall and wood fairly easily. However, the majority of handgun and small rifle ammo will not penetrate through brick or stone. (a video about bullet penetration. https://youtu.be/7VeqqNuQU_4)

Need some ideas of how to work on Dry Firing? Click on this article to find out how Dry Firing works. 

Holstering your firearm - If you are carrying a handgun you should always have something protecting the trigger from being depressed until you are ready to fire. We aren’t going to just put it in our pants like a hollywood movie. We should always have some sort of holster or trigger guard when carrying in public or be ready for a boom when you put it in or pull it out of your pants. When holstering your firearm you must make sure your finger is away from the trigger! Some people have attempted to holster their firearm and upon doing so their finger slid in front of the trigger and when they pushed down to holster, the holster pushed their finger against the trigger causing the gun to go off. 

How to properly show someone your firearm - When you want to show someone your firearm you must do it in a safe manner. First thing to do is remove all ammo and magazines, then open the breach or cylinder. With the breach open both parties can visually see that it is empty and can’t be fired with the breach open. When handing over the weapon, always have the muzzle pointed down range or in a safe direction if at home. If the other person wants to fire your weapon you should pass it on to them with all ammo removed and the breach open, then they will have to reload the weapon. 

Teaching Children Gun Safety. 

When we were kids my dad didn’t mind us shooting each other with cap guns or nerf guns but once we moved up and started shooting BB guns, he was obsessed with gun safety. He let us move up to a .22 once he thought we could be trusted to treat the gun safely. Even then, he would make sure he put his arms around us, not letting us point the firearm in a dangerous direction. By the time we were 12 or so we could be trusted enough to carry our own .410 while quail hunting with the family. By the time we were old enough to carry a gun we were just as obsessed with safety as he was. It is important that we pass on our respect and obsession with gun safety to our children.

I heard of a father who, after months of talking to his children about firearm safety, would intentionally leave a triple checked, unloaded firearm lying around the house to see if his children would tell him about it. He then would reward the child who alerted him to the firearm. I am not suggesting this activity, but it shows you the importance of drilling in safety with your children. When dealing with firearms, failure to practice safety is not an option. For that 1 in 10,000 chance that you unintentionally leave your firearm out, you want your children knowing what to do and what not to do with a firearm in the room. Children practice fire and tornado drills at school for a very rare chance that one of those traffic events happens, why can’t we practice what to do if a gun is left out with them at home?

The following information is what I will be teaching my own son, what my father taught to me, and what my grandfather taught to him. This is not intended to be a solution for everyone. I am not your firearm instructor, nor am I your safety officer. You must determine for yourself if this sounds good to you and only do these items at your own risk. 

Guidelines to teaching children gun safety:

-The first thing your child needs to learn is to never touch a gun unless you give them permission and if they see a gun sitting out they need to bring it to your attention. Children like to feel like they are helping out. So, when they bring it to your attention make sure you praise them for helping out. This is not the time to get mad at your kid for telling you when you did something wrong by leaving a gun out. Swallow your pride if you left your gun out on accident and thank your kid for doing the right thing. 

- Talk about safety. Many parents aren’t aware of how much information their children actually absorb. My father was a baseball coach and I can still remember the phrase “hitting is maximizing barrel speed through the point of contact”. Kids are like sponges and will soak up any informaiton you give them.

-Progression in gun power. Start off with toys or training guns, then progress to bb guns, then small caliber firearms.

-When progressing to the next weapon up, as the adult, you should have your arms around the child and you will be holding the firearm, not allowing them to point the weapon in an unsafe direction and making sure their finger isn’t on the trigger until they are ready to shoot. 

-Start off by loading the firearm for them, then have them put their hands on the gun to shoot. During this stage the child doesn’t really hold or aim the gun, they just think they are doing it.

- If a child tries to jerk the firearm away from you to do it himself, he doesn’t understand the seriousness of what you are trying to teach them, unload the weapon and stop shooting for the day. Before you shoot again, work with the child on the importance of safety and what that means. 

- When the child progresses to handling the firearm themself you should stand behind them, ready to stop them if they try to turn quickly or start to lose control of the weapon. 

- Children should start off with single fire weapons that require a manual reload for the second shot. For example, a lever action rifle, pump or single shot shotgun, or revolver with every other chamber empty. This will help ensure they don’t have accidental firings after their first shot. 

-Children should never be allowed to shoot an automatic weapon. Handling a fully automatic weapon is difficult for a trained adult much less a child. Automatic weapons are easy to lose control of and one false move could lead to a tragic situation. 

Welcomed visitors with guns in your house with children - Maybe you have a family or friend staying the night at your house and you know they are carrying a firearm, or you are going to the shooting range with a buddy. Whatever the reason, it is important that your guest knows your expectations for firearm safety. After giving your greeting and showing them around I would remind them that you have children in or coming over to your house and that if they don’t have the firearm on them, it needs to be locked up or stored in their vehicle with the doors locked. Give them an option to store their gun in your safe or offer another device to secure their weapon when they are ready to secure their firearm for the night. You can drill gun safety in the heads of your small children but small children are notorious for making horrible split decisions. Most of the time a friend or family member will gladly comply with your rules on not having firearms laying around the house. 

The majority of unintentional shootings happen by guns owned by people who aren’t properly trained in handling a firearm such as gang bangers or drug dealers. However, unintentional shootings can also take place in areas not controlled by gangs or in the middle of the countryside. In order to avoid becoming a stat you must practice proper gun safety. Remember to always treat all guns as if they are loaded, lock them up when not using them, use a holster or other item to protect the trigger when carrying, unload the weapon and open the breach when showing or passing the firearm to someone else, and last but not least train your whole family in the importance of gun safety!