Why YSK: Even if you don’t own a gun, there is a chance you can encounter one at the home of a friend or family member. These are the four core rules of gun safety, but the same can be used with airsoft/paintball guns, nerf or even chemical spray bottles!
First, treat every firearm as if it were loaded. Even if it was clear the last time you saw it. If looking at a gun with someone else and they assure you it’s not loaded, you can respectfully ask them to clear it in front of you before you handle it yourself.
Never point a gun at anything you are not willing to destroy. Pretend there is a lazer beam coming from the barrel. Don’t let that “beam” point at anyone. That is known as “flagging”. In nearly all cases keeping the barrel pointing down between your feet is a good move.
Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire. This includes the whole trigger guard area. Most people keep their finger on the frame well above the trigger guard, pointing their finger in the same direction as the barrel. This is known as “trigger discipline”.
Finally be sure of your target and what’s behind it. Bullets can still travel a long way even after they pass through a target. If you are target shooting make sure there is a solid backstop. If in a real life situation you must positively ID the threat, no shooting at shadows or noises.
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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.
This just happened. Could not ask for better.
And now, for the obligatory drivel:
I live in one of the countries where more guns are owned and kept by civilians in Europe and the times I’ve seen one, it was on a police officer belt or on a museum.
Portugal (I was surprised when I learned this) has a lot of guns in civilian hands, mostly small handguns and hunting rifles, mostly shotguns and carabines.
The average hunter - I live in a somewhat rural area - stores guns empty, with trigger locks in place. And having more than one gun requires a gun safe, that is routinely inspected by police. Handguns have to be stored in lock boxes or safes unloaded. Ammunition must be stored separately and outside a minimal range of the guns.
Secret storage compartments are forbidden. Open carry is forbidden. Concealed carry is mostly standard here but manifesting it, with no reason, is a serious crime.
Gun violence is not rampant here, regardless what sensationalist news outlets and social networks desinformation campaigns try to do.
Most people never see a gun their entire life and if confronted with one will instantly call the police for safe removal.
So… I appreciate this kind of topic but it always strikes me as unnecessary for the average reality.
When I was about 12 or so, my father, who was just really bad at like, everything, and was always inebriated… was checking something on the 12-gauge he kept in the house, he decided to sit next to me on my bed to fiddle with the thing and of course, he pulls the trigger and it goes off.
Fortunately it was pointed away from me, and fortunately there was nobody else in the house at the time, so it just took a large chunk out of the wall and not a family member, but it was startling on a level that shook me for life, and whether he meant to teach the lesson or not, I sure as shit learned the rules of firearms from that incident.
It also makes me call BS on at least the “saving private ryan” part of the 4chan post. There’s no way you will mistake an actual firearm going off for any kind of media or recording.
Ehhh, you probably could if you weren’t extremely close and it was the right firearm.
There’s a lot of variation between different guns when it comes to volume- even the same caliber can be dramatically quieter out of a long barrel. I own a .22lr rifle that’s entirely fine to shoot without ear protection, and a .22lr revolver that’s definitely not fine to shoot without ear protection.
What I’m getting at is 12ga is fucking loud, even by gun standards. In an enclosed space? I bet you had tinnitus for awhile.
Do you know how many dB that 22lr is actually producing? I would bet it’s actually just inside the danger zone with most ammo.
Honest question: Why is open carry forbidden, but concealed carry can be okay in certain contexts? The idea of being coy about whether or not one has a gun seems more alarming than somebody unquestionably having a gun that everyone can see. Not brandishing it, but rather just being honest and open with everyone about the idea that you’re carrying a gun seems less upsetting to me than the unanswered question of who might possibly have a hidden gun on them if they had that special kind of feeling when they woke up this morning.
Knowing that concealed guns are out there keeps the bad guys guessing, open carry scares normal people are makes it easier for the bad guys to get the drop on lawful carriers
A visible weapon generates discomfort. Unless on a police agent, nobody likes to see a gun here. It’s a threat. Hence the default for concealed carry.
In other words :
- Gun can go bang ! Scary.
- Point gun at bad guy, never good guy.
- Fingy behave until bad guy show up.
- Good guy close or behind bad guy ? No bang !
(This is meant to make the rules easy to remember, not to make fun of them)
Before I ever got a firearm, or before that paintball gun, I had this driven into me regarding power tools. I hold a drill the same way I hold a gun which I’ve been made fun of for, but I’ve never caught my clothes in a drill bit, or cut myself with a hole cutter like others I know. I also always put the safety on.
Rule 0: Don’t fucking handle with guns in the first place, if you don’t know the basic rules.
Gotta start somewhere, we were all inexperienced once. But yeah this is a case where you should take your time and learn what you’re doing
I’d offer this as well: if you don’t have to pick up a gun, don’t pick one up.
So just leave it there for some kid to find?
What if the kid needs it?
Then it’s the kids problem
That’s an example of when the gun needs to be picked up and secured. Also the kid may have the proper firearms training.
Does every gun store have a jar for rounds they found in guns that have been handed to them?
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.
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.
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.
Oh goddess yes. Handed a revolver (cylinder out to show it was empty) to a friend who is ex-military and was a designated sharpshooter … back in the 70s …
He proceeded to play with the cylinder and then flick it closed, because that’s how they do it in the movies >:-(
If you don’t really know how to handle a gun you should say so, and let the owner walk you through how to handle it … assuming they actually follow the golden rules.
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
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Remove the magazine (or cartridges)
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Open the action and confirm no cartridge is present
The exact steps will depend on the action (pump, bolt, break, semi-auto, etc.) and the particular model of firearm, but it’s essentially the loading process performed in reverse
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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.
Between my buddies, whenever we are looking at each other’s guns we’ll pick it up. Check that it’s unloaded, hand it to the other person and they will also check it again that it’s empty.
We don’t care if we literally watched each other clear it right before handing it to us. We always do it.
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.
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
I live in TX. I see more guns going Home Depot than a military parade
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.
Not true. In Australia, except for the sharks, spiders, snakes, bees, crocodiles, drop bears, mosquitoes, jellyfish, scorpions, ants, bats, fish, snails, dingoes, centipedes, wasps, octopuses, possums, ticks, sea snakes, emus and other birds, there’s really not much trying to kill you.
/s (yes, the should not be necessary, but have you met people)
Don’t forget that bush that makes you want to die.
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.
It’s an extreme outlier, but you guys did just have a very well-publicized mass shooting there barely over a month ago (fuck man, it feels so much longer than that)
And to boot, a random civilian struggled with and took a gun from one of the attackers.
You probably won’t find yourself in that kind of situation, and I certainly hope you never do. But these kinds of things can happen anywhere. I’m quite certain that Ahmed el-Ahmed didn’t have “hold a gun” on his to-do list that day, but nonetheless it happened, however briefly.
And if you ever do find yourself in that kind of situation, it’s best to know how not to hurt yourself or others with that gun you’ve unexpectedly come into possession of.
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.
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.
Someone should have told Baldwin
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.
YSK not everyone lives in a unstable country.
YSK that there are guns in every country
YSK nearly every stable country have reasonable gun restrictions so that it is not easily accessible for someone to fool around. Or they are unstable countries like Afghanistan, Sudan.
For sure all this, one note, rule 0 is
encounter one at the home of a friend or family member.
If you don’t know what to do (RE: these other four rules and how to operate that specific firearm) or are nervous, don’t goddamn touch it unless you have to. If it’s a safe situation and not something out of the ordinary like kids or burglars are around and the owner is dead, go get the owner of the gun or someone who is experienced enough to handle them safely.
Yeah. I used to work in a destination outdoors store that sold sometimes hundreds of guns in a day. Once every few years we would find an unattended firearm in the store - usually in the bathroom. People would have a gun in a holster, and when the belt came off and slid down they’d lose retention and slide behind the toilet.
Even though every employee from the janitor to the cashier to the finance people were required to be trained on how to safely handle a firearm, we had a small list of managers that were allowed to handle guns that had been left unattended.
Out of 200 employees there were 8 of us allowed to secure a weapon.
The worst case of abandoned guns we had was someone who bought a concealed-carry purse, decided they didn’t like it and returned it. 2 weeks later they came by to ask if they’d left their gun in it.
I found it in the purse on the sales floor. The customer service team got a very stern lecture on another reason why we always inspect returns.
