Firearm security first!

Firearm security first!

I want to start this series of posts with this must!

Firearms are dangerous things.

It is precisely because of the danger they pose that they make good tools to prevent bad people from doing bad things to good people.

That’s why they are useful to protect you and your loved ones, but they are only useful if they are used correctly.

Misused is a danger to you or innocent people.

Jeff Cooper

, an influential figure in modern firearms training, has formalized and popularized the “Four Rules” for safe handling of firearms.

Previous lists of gun safety rules included a minimum of three basic security rules or up to ten rules, including gun safety and sports etiquette rules.

In addition to Cooper, other influential gun safety teachers include Massad Ayoob,Clint Smith, Chuck Taylor, Jim Crews, Bob Munden, and Ignatius Square..

Jeff Cooper’s has devised 4 gun safety rules:

1. Treat each weapon as if it were loaded (even if it isn’t).
2. Check the target and what’s behind it.
3. Never point the weapon at something you’re not willing to destroy.
4. Keep your finger away from the trigger until the weapon is aligned with the target.

Now these are basic safety rules with fuco weapons are fundamental and on which many argue – many none without titles but today it goes out offashion– they say that they are outdated but if you analyze what they say they go far beyond their meaning if you combine them together.

On these basic rules you must never compromise, NEVER.

Gun

safety rules and practical recommendations are intended to avoid accidental discharges or discharges by negligence, or the consequences of firearm malfunctions.

Their purpose is to eliminate or minimize the risks of involuntary death, injury or property damage caused by possession, storage or improper handling of firearms.

There are other rules similar to Jeff Cooper’s:

Below I enter you a list that use different associations and military bodies as security rules.

There are small variations but you’ll find plenty in common with Jeff Cooper’s 4 rules.

Ira L. Revees, in his 1913 book The ABC of Rifle, Revolver and Pistol Shooting, [4] stated the following:

• “The anti-injury rule”: “The flight of a firearm should never point in a direction where, if discharged, it would cause injuries where the wound is not expected”.
• “then the complementary rule of that just given”: “All firearms are always loaded.”
• And he went on to say, “The trigger should never be pulled until the identity of the shot thing has been established beyond doubt.”

Various versions of the Ten Commandments on Gun Safety have been published. This is from the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia:

• Treat each weapon with respect due to a loaded weapon.
• Carry only empty, disassembled or open-action guns, in your car, in the field, and/at home.
• Always make sure that the barrel and the action are free of obstructions.
• Always carry your gun with you so you can control the direction of the sprint.
• Make sure of your goal before pulling the trigger.
• Never point a gun at something you don’t want to shoot.
• Never leave your gun unattended unless you download it first.
• Never climb a tree or fence with a loaded weapon.
• Never shoot on a flat, hard surface or water surface.
• Do not mix gunpowder and alcohol.

The National Rifle Association provides a number of similar rules:

• Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
• Always keep your finger away from the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
• Always keep the gun unloaded until it is used.

The Appleseed project provides similar rules for their rifle shooting clinics:

• Always keep the muzzle in a safe direction.
• Do not load until the load command is given.
• Keep your finger away from the trigger until the crosshairs are on target.
• Make sure those around you follow the security rules.

The Canadian Firearms Program uses the concept of The Four Firearm ACTS:

• Every firearm is loaded.
• There is no change in the direction of the barrel at all times.
• T finger rigger off trigger and out of the jumper.
• S is that the weapon is discharged.

The U.S. Marine Corps uses the following four gun safety rules:

• Treat every weapon as if it were loaded
• Never point your weapon at something you don’t intend to shoot
• Keep your finger straight and out of the trigger until you’re ready to shoot
• Keep your weapon safe until you’re going to shoot

A little statistics but with a note

In recent years there have been an average of 40,000 involuntary gun deaths worldwide.

forty thousand deaths a year from gun accidents are not small numbers

In 2018, the highest number of deaths in almost 40 years was reached in the United States: a negative record that this year 2020 could even “improve”.

According to an analysis of data from “Wonder”, a database of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s, nearly 40,000 people died from firearms in the United States last year.

The highest number in decades.

To be more precise, 39,773 died in 2017, an increase of more than 10,000 compared to 28,874 in 1999.

The death rate of firearms per 100,000 inhabitants has increased from 10.3 in 1999 to 12 in 2020.

But now I want to highlight what this data is made of:

More than 23,000 people committed suicide using firearms, the highest number in 20 years, a difference of more than 7,000 more suicide deaths than the 16,599 suicides in 1999.

The death rate from suicide with firearms rose from 6.0 in 1999 to 7 in 2020.

Numbers seen in this way show an alarming truth and deaths caused by weapons are in the ranking of mortality data in the various countries.

The data include deaths from murder and suicide, involuntary deaths, deaths in war or in ways not yet clarified.

Now putting the total deaths together without dividing them into contexts can lead to a strange perception of the level of danger.

What do I mean?

Who’s going to commit suicide used a weapon, but would have done it anyway with a rope? or with a jump into the void from a window? etc.

What does deaths in war zones with weapons mean in relation to weapons in a civilised area?

This way of counting from the half and numbers point of view is real but it is out of context giving a distorted view of the theme which is:

does the spread of weapons make a civil society more or less safe?

I am not going to comment on that!

Now these statistics can also be analyzed more thoroughly by ethnicity, gender, age in terms of both homicides and suicides.

This data is used on the basis of those who are pro-arms and against weapons spread in society in an objective way, not by creating a constructive debate in this way but simply by dividing.

An old Roman and Italic trick “divide and rule” that is now known all over the world.

Example of some statements by those against:

“In 2017, almost 109 people died every day from firearms. It is a real epidemic that requires a radical solution: it is necessary to implement interventions such as policies to restrict the ability to buy firearms – commented Adelyn Allchin, director of public health research for the Educational Found to Stop Gun Violence – violence and firearms have been part of our daily lives for too long. The political class needs to work together to make gun violence rare and abnormal.”

An example of some pro-gun statements such as the National Rifle Association (NFR), america’s powerful gun lobby, has outlined its position:

“Gun control laws are not the solution: and we want to prevent further acts of violence, our leaders must stop demonising the men and women of the NRA and find solutions that save lives.”

The basic security elements must always be implemented and depending on the type of exercise they can only go up.

A weapons incident is not what conscientious, competent and law-arid gun owners want to see happen, and that’s why you need to get closer to handling weapons including their use for training and defensive practice with security first.

Guns are always dangerous, but the risk you face and the possibility of that danger manifesting itself changes depending on what you’re doing.

You can change the level of risk by complying with security rules and procedures.

These safety rules and procedures help ensure that the benefit of training or gun practice outweass the risk.

Also for this reason a tip that can be useful is to do the first drills or exercises by performing movements with a discharged weapon or simulacra, and once the movements have been acquired, etc. insert the magazine and do the exercises.

This is always essential because you must never do something that puts your life at risk!

Safety also goes from trivial things

For example, firing a gun makes an extremely loud sound and poses a very real danger to hearing.

Reduce the chances of damaging your hearing by wearing good hearing protection.

This will reduce the risk of losing hearing well below the benefit that will be obtained from shooting with the gun, especially if that benefit is simply recreational or preparation to save your life.

If you get half deaf it won’t benefit your personal safety!

This is just a simple example but in general for any drills, exercise or any tutorial you do, the advantage of doing it and exercising must far outweigh the risk in carrying it out but I will tell you more about the risk you have to “cancel”.

Whether you’re doing a drill to improve your shooting ability or just handling a gun even if it discharges, you can and always need to reduce the risk to you and the people around you by following and making sure everyone else follows these easy-to-remember rules:

• Always keep barrel “snout” pointed in a generally safe direction whenever possible. A generally safe direction is one where, if the gun inadvertently discharges, it won’t hurt you or anyone else. This changes from environment to environment and requires you to always think about where the safe direction is.
• Always hold your trigger finger outside the trigger guard until you are actually in the act of firing. The favorite place is straight along the frame above the trigger, which often feels referred to as the “index” position. An “indexed” finger is in a safe position.
• Always keep in mind that you are in control of a device that, if used negligently or maliciously, can injure or kill you or someone else. This means that you always have to think while you have the weapon in your hand what your target is, where your bullets will strike and all the other things that could cause your gun causing human suffering.

If someone doesn’t follow the rules, you have to kick his ass! It’s not a game, you can’t pretend anything if you see negligence in the handling of the weapon even if it discharges!

Safety is your most important responsibility.

Every time you take a gun in your hand but in general any weapon, think about what you’re doing and why.

I know it sounds like a trivial thing but this mental routine always keeps you careful and focused even when out of habit for work or passion you handle a weapon so often that you make work actions automatic safely.

Reduce risk and help those around you reduce the risks of handling a firearm by teaching or re teaching them these rules as well.

In addition to the basic rules, polygons or some specific activities may also have administrative indications or procedures to follow that increase and strengthen the basic security rules.

One of these safety rules is to define that “generally safe” direction for you.

Don’t take this as a foregone conclusion EVER!

For most shooting intervals, drills, etc. the generally safe direction is always downrange,pointed to the ground or backstop.

Scanning the environment around you and the location of the weapon

In some drills and exercises that can be done and that we will see in other posts related to firearms for defense and personal and housing defense, some exercises require you to do a 360-degree search of your area after you finish fire.

This is a skill that you should practice after any set of pulled copi and before putting the gun back in the holster (re-holster).

Now I understand that in a real context (the “real world”) you can be on the move, with the rod of the macaw lowered and pointing to the ground, while doing that 360° search but also beyond the environment where you are.

In a polygon, however, this is not allowed!

From an administrative and settlement point of view it is necessary to do the research within the limit of the artificial box and always keep the barrel of the weapon safely pointed at the backstop.

So even if in the real world you would turn around completely to see with all the weapon even if pointed down but inside a polygon it is absolutely forbidden.

It’s kind of weird to do this way, but by moving your feet and turning your body you can keep your weapon pointed down and see directly behind you.

Each time you perform an environment search/scanning, this “administrative” procedure must be followed respecting the polygon and safety rules.

If you have a training partner, you should be informed of your movement after firing and verify that this requirement is met and your partner must verify that the weapon always stays pointed down and stops at a certain safe range at all times.

It can also be a useful exercise to see behind you at 360° without rotating with the weapon even to check on your friends behind you.

Conclusions

Gun safety is critical because firearms are dangerous things.

It is precisely because of the danger they pose that they make good tools to prevent people from doing “bad” things to good people.

That’s why they are useful to protect you and your loved ones, but they are only useful if they are used correctly.

Weapons are not a game and you have to give yourself time to learn and understand their handling safely.

Gun safety can never be put into the background because they are highly dangerous instruments.

Stay Tuned!

Street Fight Mentality