Firearm safety isn’t difficult. But it’s one of those things that, if you screw up, and if you screw up badly enough that you break more than one rule at a time, someone can get seriously injured, or even killed.
Jaxon from Gun Nuts Media posted this video over at the Gun Nuts website, and I felt it good enough to share. It’s a compilation of the worst and most egregious violations of firearm safety as seen across the internet.
Be warned, some parts of the video are disturbing.
The saddest part of all of this is how stupidly EASY it is to avoid having an “accident” like one of those shown. In fact, Colonel Jeff Cooper codified the rules of firearm safety with just four simple guidelines.
All guns are always loaded.
Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy
Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target
Be sure of your target
That’s it, just those four simple rules. In fact, if violate these rules singly, it’s quite likely that you will still avoid damaging yourself or anyone or anything else. The problems begin when you break one or more of Col. Coopers rules at the same time.
Point a gun in an unsafe direction but kept your finger off of the trigger? Not a smart idea, and generally considered to be quite rude, but nobody will die from that. Break both rules at once? Then we’ve got trouble.
Most accidents involving guns boil down to a lack of education. Get training, learn these rules, take them to heart, and then teach your kids, teach your family, and teach your kids.