Safety
Firearms manufacturers stress that you should be a "Safe", "Responsible" owner and user.
They provide rules and guidlines promintly stated in their Owner's Manual or User's Guide.
They provide these documents with new firearms and will also usually provide these manuals free online.
A sample
Smith & Wesson Safety & Instruction Manual for Sigma Series Pistols starts with "Your Safety Responsibilities".
The section leads with
"SAFETY IS YOUR NUMBER ONE RESPONSIBILITY".
The manual then goes on to list 24 actions to either do, or never do.
Remington provides an Owner's Manual, an Instruction Book for a model or family of models.
After a couple of paragraphs on Performance and Safety it proceeds to list and explain
"THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF FIREARM SAFETY".
Mossberg's OWNERS MANUAL for their family of pump action shotguns puts their
"SAFETY WARNINGS" on the cover and inside cover even before getting to the table of contents.
Ruger's Instruction Manual for the popular Ruger Model 10/22 Autoloading Rifles starts with "State-By-State Warnings".
They include ten rules in
"THE BASIC RULES OF SAFE FIREARMS HANDLING" at the back of the booklet.
Taurus issues a Revolvers Instruction Manual that begins with
"SAFETY PRECAUTIONS".
Then follows with 30 guidlines in an "ATTENTION" section that highlight actions to do or avoid.
KEL-TEC produces Safety, Instruction, and Parts Manual for their pistols,
After the introductory page comes the
"SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS AND WARNINGS READ AND CAREFULLY FOLLOW THESE WARNINGS AND INSTRUCTIONS".
GLOCK includes a phamplet entitled
"The Basic Rules of Firearm Safety".
It begins with a statement offering historical perspective and then goes on to explain 12 rules.
BERETTA uses similar symbology to Ruger in their 12
"Basic Safety Rules" included with their Series 92 pistols.
Heritage Manufacturing includes 16
"COMMANDMENTS OF SAFETY" with their revolvers.
Harrington & Richardson with New England Firearms provides an Owner's Manual with their shotguns.
It lists 26 points in the
"Guide to Firearms Safety".
But wait, are you saying there are so many rules, which set do I follow?
30, 24, 16 Commandments, Ten Commandments, Jeff Cooper's Four?
If you looked at all of the information you will see the themes that the NRA has condensed down to three rules.
They are designed to prevent harm if a negligent discharge occurs.
They have to be applied in
all circumstatnces at
all times.
There can be no momentery lapse of attention or deviation.
Just as if you were adhering to any set of rules or guidlines from a gun manufacturer, respected writer, or any other source.
The point of all of the stress on safety is to prevent tragedy. Here are the
NRA three rules for safe gun handling:
- ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
- ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
- ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
Which direction is safe? This requires some evaluation. Consider you are at a shooting range.
Etiquite and range rules will mandate that you take your gun in a case and unloaded to the firing line.
You position the gun still in the case so that when you open it the barrel will be pointed in the direction of the targets.
You take the gun out of the case, keeping your finger off the trigger and place the gun down on what ever surface is provided such that the barrel remains pointing toward the targets and the empty chamber is up and exposed.
Everything you do with your gun during this session maintains this orientation of barrel pointing toward the targets.
When you put it away it goes back in the case at the firing line and the gun has been checked to verify it is empty.
Consider you are at home getting ready to clean the gun you used at the range or you are going to "dry fire" practice.
where in your home can you point your gun and pull the trigger and contain a discharge if you make a mistake about the load status?
There must be a "safe direction" at all times you are handling a gun.
Until you can determine where the "safe direction" is, you should not be taking your guns out of their cases.
