A friendly safety reminder

[csmith]

I just want to share a couple of recent shooting experiences that have come together to remind me why safety is so important at all times, and why we can never rely on any single firearm safety aspect to keep bad things from happening.

Yesterday my nephew posted a photo on Facebook that really set me off. The photo was taken last June when I took him (and his brother) shooting while they were visiting. It showed him handling my Ruger GP100 while myself and his brother were downrange. Until yesterday, I had no knowledge that this had occurred. From the photo I can tell that it was pointed downrange and into the dirt. I estimate that if there were a negligent discharge, the round would have impacted the dirt 10-20 feet to my left, and maybe 10 yards behind me. Well, I commented on the photo and politely ripped him a new asshole on Facebook. His response was exactly what I expected, he pointed out that the firearm was not loaded and he had it pointed in a "safe" direction blah blah blah.

Last night I was fuming and all but decided that I would not be taking him along with me ever again. Today I went to the range by myself and experienced something that shows EXACTLY what could have happened. I could not have asked for a better scenario to show this kid. Since I took photos for that exact purpose, I figure I will share with all of you as a reminder to always be aware of what is downrange. This scenario is not uncommon, we all see it frequently while shooting, but obviously some people (like my nephew) do not think about this kind of stuff.

I took a break from working with my .44 at 50 yards. I put up a fresh target for later, and proceeded to move over to work with my Glock 27 at 10 yards or so. You can see how my targets are setup in the photo below. My 50 yard target is roughly 5 yards left of my 10 yard target (closest, ignore the target between them). The .40 caliber rounds were impacting the dirt at around 25 yards.


After firing 2 magazines I walked downrange to put up a new target at 10 yards and happened to glance at my 50 yard target. I noticed a rather large hole in the fresh paper, so I went to inspect. The target was struck by a separated jacket from a .40 caliber round that had clearly taken a stray bounce off the ground.



That looks like it would hurt! So to keep from being any more long winded than I have been already, here is the point: don't ever let up on your safety practices. And dammit, pay attention to what other shooters with you are doing. This is not the first time I've seen a jacket (or lead for that matter) hit something else downrange, I'm sure many of you have seen this before. However this time it made me stop and think about the situation with my nephew, and WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED. How I will explain that to a 14 year old is beyond me, but rest assured I will be passing this info along to him.

[Breadman03]

I had a bit of the same trouble with my Daughter. I took her out from age 7-9. Then, she began to handle the rifle in an unsafe manner and didn't want to listen. We were off the range in about 30 seconds because I won't tolerate any unsafe weapon handling. Good luck getting the lesson through to him!

[Irwin Inhabitant]

Yes, it is best to teach gun safety starting when the kids are young. When I was a kid, my Dad taught me the hard way with BB guns. He gave me one stern warning to follow the safety rules and that was all. Next time I was SOL.

He made me watch him as he crushed my BB guns in a large machinist's vise. Once with a BB rifle and once with a BB pistol. Both times I was about age 10-11. I had to save up my money to buy replacements, then talk him into believing I had learned my lessons, since I was under age 18 and he had to buy it for me using my money.

He signed me up to take the PA hunter safety classes when I was 11 years old. Back then the club gave us one round of .22 LR to fire in those ridiculously heavy (for a kid) single shot rifles, with constant one on one supervision. I am forever grateful to him for that.
The club gave a little more extra opportunity to learn firearms.
We eventually moved up thru shotguns, single action .22 revolvers, and black powder, etc. Now the liability cost insurance is too much , except during the annual NRA/Eddie Eagle day.


Kids today think everything is a video game. I still have a 1969 Daisy BB rifle, and a Luger-type BB pistol
in perfect working condition that I used to teach our grandsons with them.

I did not feel that they had enough responsibility to seperate reality from video game/movie/TV shooting for quite a while. Everything was a joke to them, and they insisted that holding the pistol "gangsta style" sideways was the correct way, unless you are a cop.

Finally at age 15-16 they were mature enough to move up to a .22 bolt action rifle and single action revolver.
They also wanted to "pose" with a gun for their facebook twittering friends. I would not let them, because nowadays kids can get kicked out of schools for facebook content.

I think the kids (and many adults) and their facebook social media stuff is way too addictive. Instead of living their own lives in the world of reality, they waste much of their lives checking and updating their cyber lives. They constantly try to build an electronic personality, and then worry about what other people have to say about them.
I don't do the social media thing, forums like this is as close as it gets for me.

[stimrob]

I'm ashamed to say it but I have to deal with the same crap from any friends that I take out shooting for the first time. And they are in their mid 20's.

Once, I met two of them at a public range to shoot trap, and all the two of them could talk about was Call of Duty, and if this gun is from call of duty or this looks like call of duty. I was so disappointed. Also, what does trap have to do with Call of Duty ?


Since then, I've started adding that to my "firearm safety rules" speech.

1. Keep muzzle pointed in safe direction
2. Keep finger off trigger until ready to shoot
3. Keep the gun unloaded until ready to use
4. You may not talk about "call of duty" while on the range grounds.

[JDC]

Damn who doesn't know not to handle a gun when someone is down range. Amazing maybe this site needs a gun safety section. Seriously we've got people shooting themselves in the hand people handling weapons with other people down range. This crap amazes me

[brownman]

OP, you can do whatever you want with your nephew but I hope you wont blacklist him just yet. I say use this expeience to teach him why what he did was wrong. Show him your pics and target from todays experience. They could serve as a good visual aid. If the youngster can actually see something rather than his Uncle barking safety at him, it might be easier for him to understand and grasp.

Good Luck

[red dog]

jdc, i gotta tell you it is not just the kids or newbs. i see gun handling all the time by adults when people are down range. yes it really punches my buttons. when i observe this type of behavior i try to correct it. and yes i have had people argue with me about this issue, when this happens i nicely inform those that were downrange what was going on and let them give the offender their thoughts on this issue. to me this is a nobrainer but then again this may be the problem (nobrains and no courtesy).

[csmith]

OP, you can do whatever you want with your nephew but I hope you wont blacklist him just yet. I say use this expeience to teach him why what he did was wrong. Show him your pics and target from todays experience. They could serve as a good visual aid. If the youngster can actually see something rather than his Uncle barking safety at him, it might be easier for him to understand and grasp.

Good Luck

Don't worry I have not given up on him. I was angry enough where the thought crossed my mind, but ultimately I feel it is now my responsibility to straighten him out.