All gun owners need to know how to handle a gun safely. As a rule of thumb, you should treat all guns as if they are loaded and ready to fire. Several accidents occur every year where gun handlers thought a gun was unloaded. Here are five tips to help you handle guns better.
Point the Muzzle in a Safe Direction
Avoid pointing a gun at anything or anyone you have no intention of shooting. If everyone was to follow this basic rule, there would be no accidents. This rule is important when you are loading and unloading a firearm. If the muzzle points downwards or in a safe direction, there will be no accident in case of an accidental discharge.
Safe direction, in this case, means a direction where the bullet has no chance of striking a person or animal you do not intend to shoot. You need to consider that bullets that go through walls and ceilings and ricochets are also dangerous. In most cases, the safe direction is either up or down. Even when you are practising with dry fire, with an unloaded gun, the muzzle should never point at a target you do not intend to strike.
Keep Your Firearm Unloaded When Not In Use
You only need to load your firearm when you are out in the field or at the range. When not in use, unload the firearm and place the ammunition in a safe place away from the gun. Ensure that children do not have access to the firearm.
A loaded gun should not get anywhere near your house or your car unless you are in law enforcement. If you hand the firearm to someone else, be sure to check the chamber, receiver, action, and magazine to ensure there are no bullets. Keep the firearm action open during times of no use. An experienced gun handler knows that they should always check if a gun is loaded or unloaded before storage.
Practice
Firearms are not the same. The way you handle one firearm is different from how you handle another, thanks to the mechanical features of each. Even if you have handled firearms before, always familiarise yourself with a new firearm before using it at the range or the field. Start by learning how to load and unload a firearm, carry the firearm, and learn the general rules of handling the gun.
Check the manufacturer’s recommendations on how to handle the gun, including how to carry it. For instance, you should carry single-action revolvers with the hammer down. Once you learn the mechanical features and how to carry a gun, practice with dry fire training drills. You need a coach for these drills to guide you through different ways to use your gun in the event of an attack.
Treat Gun Safety Features as Supplements to Safe Gun Handling
Modern guns have a host of safety features to protect users from accidental firing. However, even with all these features, you should still consider the gun as being ready to fire any time. Safety features can fail or you may forget to put them on. This means you should avoid handling the gun carelessly even when the safety is on.
Avoid touching the firearm trigger until you are ready to shoot. Even when the safety device is in a “safe” position, still avoid pulling the trigger at anything you do not intend to shoot.
Use the Right Ammunition
The right ammunition can help prevent misfires and damages to the gun. If you use the wrong ammunition, a single cartridge of the wrong caliber can damage the gun and cause serious injury. Check the manufacturer’s specifications on the user manual to ensure that you are using the right ammunition for your firearm.
Gun manufacturers build and test their firearms based on the ammunition they recommend. Deviating from the recommended ammunition can be dangerous. If your ammunition is wet, discard it for dry ammunition. Again, avoid placing ammunition in oil or heavily lubricated firearms.
Conclusion
A gun is never foolproof. Having and carrying a gun should be treated as a full-time job. You cannot afford to forget or overlook basic gun handling rules. You must learn all you can about a gun before you fire one.
