Airsoft Never Appealed To Me Before...

...but for some reason it sure does now!

 

This could make a man want to hop on the next plane to
Hawaii to sign up at Impact Games for some Airsoft fun.
Model: Christine Mendoza, © Oseas Dagdad, Island-Foxes.com

Yet another example of a woman without her finger on the trigger - as it should be unless ready to fire.This image posted here for the purposes of firearms safety education and for that aone. I mean, why else would I post a pic like that here.

 

A hat tip, my thanks and an aloha to Oseas Dagdag of Island-Foxes.com for his generous permission to use this photograph (and others) in my blog. More like this one to come!

 

All the best,

Glenn B

I've Always Wanted To Hold A Pair Of 45s Like These

I imagine they must be hefty but she appears to support them well enough except for the fact that her fingers are on the triggers, well of the one set of 45s anyway.

Folks, remember - barring certain exceptions - don't put your finger on the trigger unless ready to shoot. This photo posted here for firearms safety education and for that purpose alone. Why else would I post an image like this here anyway!

All the best,
Glenn B

A Gun Guru Handgun Video That's More Amusing Than Informative...

... because of the mistakes he makes about these pistols such as calling a magazine a cartridge, what he says about firing one handed and how he tells/shows you to unload a revolver. His comment about why women should like the Ruger LCP is destined to become a classic.



By the way, my calling this a gun guru video has nothing to do with his accent. Gun guru is long used term to denote a master firearms know it all instructor (at least he thinks he knows it all) who in essence has virtually no to only little real clue as to the subject matter. Folks, make sure if you seek firearms training, you are getting it from someone who really has the knowledge and experience to train you. That term, in my opinion, fits this guy perfectly. I prefer someone who has been certified as an instructor by a major firearms organization like the NRA but sometimes even that is no guarantee. Do yourselves a favor, read a good book or two - an actual published work on the subject of shooting before you even think of picking up a gun. Then, check with a group like the NRA, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, National 4-H Shooting Sports; they can all point you in the right direction to find an instructor who is right on target.

All the best,
GB

Ballseye's Firearms Training & Tactics - My Way Or The Highway Absolutes...

...are just about absolute bullshit balderdash when it comes to training someone in how to use a firearm, and when it comes to using one to protect yourself. Whether or not you should aim with your sights in a gunfight is a real hot question among firearms instructors, shooters, law enforcement officers, gun bloggers, and so one. It simply amazes me that so many folks will either argue yes you should virtually always use your sights (except when in contact distance with your adversary), or no you should not use them in almost all situations out to 25 yards. Now I realize everyone has an opinion, heck what I am about to write is going to be my opinion. Yet, just like everyone has a behind, they do not need to show off their behinds to everyone as if their behinds were perfect in size and form. Neither does anyone need to make their opinion known to everyone as if it was as absolute fact. That is especially so when it is out and out factually and tactically wrong as to its absoluteness. When someone does that it is just so much testosterone or estrogen driven balderdash.

A blog I was reading got off track of the sight thing, and wound up making, what is, in my opinion, an over generalized statement, a statement of absoluteness regarding your, my, any one's competence to carry firearms. When someone in essence tells us that you have no business carrying a firearms for self defense if you can not get a hit on target with each and every shot you fire, well I get fired up and take a shot at statements like that. Of course that statement was made with the implication behind it that if you use your sights you would not miss. A person who tells you a thing like that, and who implies the other, is telling you their opinion but in such a way as to make it an absolute. Opinions are not absolutes. My guess is that the person telling you such is either an self-inflated pompous blowhard, or is someone who means well but does not have enough practical training and or experience to know otherwise. I have received a lot of firearms training, and I have been there and done that practical experience wise more than once and even my opinion is not an absolute.

I have been shooting handguns for over 29 years. I have received distinguished expert status with them many a time. I have attended several firearms training courses. Some of them, in rough chronological order, were: U.S. Border Patrol Academy, a California Highway Patrol tactical course, U.S. Customs Patrol Academy, NRA Police Firearms Instructor training (rifle, shotgun and pistol), U.S. Customs Investigator Training Academy, NYPD Armed Encounter Training, U.S. Customs Service MP-5 Submachine-gun training, NYPD Tactical Entry Training, U.S. Customs Service MP-5 Submachine-gun Instructor training, U.S. Customs Service Firearms Instructor Recertification training, Federal Air Marshal Training. I also have received firearms training at least 4 times per year in each of those 29 years, and that is in addition to the above mentioned training courses that I attended. The quarterly training includes such things as weapons retention, weapons take away, cover and concealment, officer down, one handed reloading, defense against a knife attack, low light shooting, push off shooting, hip shooting, point shooting, and tactical exercises using the aforementioned techniques. Overall, I was a firearms range officer and firearms instructor for about 14 years, and have been training and shooting on my job for over 29 years. Those are my credentials training wise.

I also have limited practical experience. I have drawn my gun on several occasions, thankfully without having to fire it. Sadly though I have also been forced to fire my gun at least three times in self defense. The first time was in the line of duty, and I missed the guy at whom I was shooting. Funny how no one, and I mean absolutely no one at the time, even suggested that I was not worthy of carrying a gun because my shot had missed. Second time was a warning shot. Yep, a strictly forbidden by the Border Patrol firearms policy warning shot, and according to my Patrol Agent In Charge when interviewed by the press, it saved my life as far as he could tell. The third time I shot in a scary situation, well let's just say that is how I got the name Ballseye. Each time I was in those situations it was scary.

The first time I was almost blinded; but luckily only had the slightest scratch on the white of my eye and inside my lower eyelid rim. I was under attack from 5 or 7 guys throwing rocks and chunks of concrete at me, and they came darned close to hurting me badly when one piece hit my windshield and glass went in my face. My vehicle stalled and I was broadside to them. I was scared and my vision was blurry - but I took the best opportunity I had to save myself from serious bodily harm or death. I aimed in and fired. What would you have done? Was I wrong to have done so? I actually had my shot aimed in and the guy moved just as I fired because he was throwing another rock at me and I missed. Yeah it was darned difficult with the glass in my eyes, but I was able to aim with the sights and cranked one off. I was found to have been 100% justified. I was not even required to attend any remedial firearms training. Can you imagine that.

The second time time I fired my weapon in self defense was not at a guy but just over his head, actually aiming at the side of a concrete building. Close to his head though, I saw his hair go swoosh from the muzzle blast. Why? Darned if I know why I gave him that warning shot. Maybe because he was unarmed. I do know that I was already hurting bad at that point. I had several minutes prior had one hell of a fight with a guy I was arresting, and he drop kicked me from his position on a fence a few times in my chest. I got him though after whacking him several times with my portable radio as he tried to entangle me in the barbed wire at the top of the International Boundary Fence. Then, the guy whose hair I had not yet parted with the warning shot, and a few of his amigos in crime tried to get my prisoner away from me and in doing so beat me up pretty good. So I had gotten two good beatings, and was feeling pretty miserable, and probably not thinking to well at the time. Funny though, wound up I did not have a noticeable bruise on me when I went to the hospital that night, just some redness and a scratch or two. It was one heck of a couple of beatings though I can assure of that. Next day I did cough up copious amounts of blood from the beating I had taken, and was diagnosed with a fractured sternum, then with a fractured Zyphoid Process, then with nothing if only because the docs were aresehats. My sternum and Zyphoid process had both been cracked as I learned later for sure.

So when this guy came at me the second time, and was urging his buddies to come and get me a second time, but this time to kill me, why a warning shot? I do not know for sure. I was young, I was scared, I did not want to have to kill anyone, I hoped with all my might that he would run away and so would the other guys, and I think that somewhere in that jumble of fast moving thoughts that course through your gray cells at such a time I figured if I shot him maybe it would enrage the others and they would kill me but if I scared him off they would be scared off too, and I had been beaten up and was feeling like shit and not thinking right. I fired, he fled as fast as any man I have ever seen run, climb a fence, and run some more. His buddies, they fled too. It worked, but I now would not recommend it, and I would probably never do it again. Next time - two to the chest and maybe one to the head.

The third time, the shot with which I connected, I was off duty and out for a walk. Two guys pull up in a car, one gets out with a crumpled up sweater in his hands, pulls the sweater back with one hand and exposes a rifle barrel. Then he says: "Don't move mother fucker". I was just about shitting myself because it looked to me as if a guy had just leveled a 30 caliber rifle barrel at my gut and told me what he did. It was obvious I was in a life threatening situation and was about to get hurt badly. So what did I do. I moved, so did he he, I shot without ever getting the pistol anywhere near the level of my eyes to sight it in. I shot almost as soon as the gun cleared leather and was pointed at the bad guy. Guess what, I hit him too, or to be exact the bullet hit him. Yes it wound up giving me the name Ballseye because of where it hit him. Went in his right thigh, deflected to his left. Yes it came out of the thigh and kept going, right into his scrotum, then exited the sack, and then entered the left thigh and traveled down toward his knee where it lodged. Was it the best placed shot in the world - nope, but it stopped him from doing me harm, and I suppose gave his cousin who was his accomplice second thoughts too. My second shot definitely gave the cousin second thoughts and even though the round was demolished by hitting the windshield, he took off in the car in reverse.


Would I have been a really bad guy who did not deserve to carry a gun had I missed the shot altogether - hell no. Would it been bad had I killed an innocent person a block away, sure it would have. Would I have been justified in having shot without using my sights even if the result had been an outright miss with maybe a hit on an unintended target. Yes I would have been justified even if the result had been a bad one. Why, because I had been trained to shoot without using sights close in. I was trained to shoot like that for speed when needed and this guy had the drop on me. I was trained to shoot like that to avoid having my gun taken away and this guy was close to me. Less than 7 yards, probably closer than 3 yards, maybe as close as about 7 feet. It was hard to tell once the adrenalin got flowing and to tell the truth it has been so long I have forgotten what I thought back then about distance except he was too darned close to me. I shot, I hit him, just as trained for doing. Nope not a great shot for a paper target or a competitive pistol match, not one at at center mass, but by using vertical tracking and firing as soon as I had cleared leather it hit him, and it hit him hard and hurt him badly - no sights involved in how I aimed - but yes it was a form of aiming. If I had fired a second shot at him by vertically tracking up to center of mass, as I did track with the pistol, I would likely have killed him but it was almost instantly obvious he was not as much a threat as he had just been a moment before, so I avoided making the mistake of tunnel vision and looked to his accomplice who was just turning in his seat to exit their car with a handgun in his right hand. Another shot fired, this one hitting the windshield of the car right at the level of the driver's head somehow, and both fled. I never used my sights as I recall although the second shot was point shooting if I remember right.

Could I have missed. Sure I could have. Would it have been due to me not using my sights, I think not. It would more likely have been due to the absolute super rush of adrenalin in my system, or to the fact that my sphincter muscles were squeezing together hard to hold in my bowel contents (the pucker factor), or because some other muscle group was keeping me from wetting my pants, or simply because I was scared almost shitless and wanted to run away or cry like a baby. What if I had used my sights. The split second more to raise my pistol to eye level, and the couple to few more moments to focus on the sights and align them on target, and then squeeze one off would likely have gotten me killed if the guy had a real gun, and it would also have allowed his cousin time enough to get the drop on me. It turned out the first guy was holding a pipe making it look like a gun. Pretty convincing too because it had about a .30 hole in the end of it. Oh well. I did it right, and I got him, and I was unharmed by either him with his fake gun, or his cousin with his real revolver. Yes it was real. Wound up they had robbed someone before me, and that guy described to police the bullets he had seen in the chambers of the cylinder of the revolver.

Now before you go and start accusing me of blowing my own horn, or of being full of myself, allow to to tell you why I pointed out all of the above about myself. It is because that is my training and experience, well some of it. I have lots more experience using guns as when going on raids and such but thankfully not having to shoot them. Those are my qualifications so to speak. With my qualifications in mind - I think I am somewhat qualified to say what I am about to say.

Folks I just cannot stress enough there are practical times not to use sights, and practical times to use sights. Just because someone is more than arms reach away from you does not make it necessarily so that you use your sights. Just because someone is an arms reach away, or 3, or 4, or 6, or 9, or even 21 feet away does not always make it safe for you to bring your gun up and out in front of you to use the sights. Anyone who tells you that you should always use your sights at any of those distance is, I think, foolish. It may be great for shooting holes into paper, but it can be something very different when facing a bad guy.

Sure, you should learn how to shoot first using your sights. Then once you are a fair to good shooter that way you should graduate to learn how to point shoot. Then once you are pretty fair to good at that, learn how to shoot from the hip (no like like in old west movies at a guy 30 feet away but as in when you do not want to offer your pistol to the bad guy who is close enough to grab it), and learn how to do push off shooting. Learn some honest to goodness self defense shooting for all ranges from touching your opponent to out to at least 25 yards away. Get training from a certified tactical instructor, or at least someone who had such a certification in the past. They will show you more than one way to plug a scoundrel who is apparently intent on doing serious bodily harm to you. That will include when to use sights and when not to use them and you will learn there can be various times that the two methods can overlap and you need to decide to use sights or not to use them based upon your own best assessment of the situation as it is happening. By learning varying methods you are allowing for yourself to be able to improvise among those methods when you need to based upon any situation in which you may find yourself.

Try to stay away from all the all knowing testosterone or estrogen driven super gun guru types who generalize about such situations. You know the type, the ones who claim to know it all, and claim or imply that they are worthy of carrying a gun because they can hit anything at which they shoot each and every time they shoot, and who wind up telling you that it is absolutely their way or no way. They may just get themselves or you killed. The thing about shooting in defensive situations is that there is usually more than one way, and are sometimes several ways to do it. You may also find though practical experience that you will be able - after being trained well - to improvise upon your training and come up with a solutions that will work in situations that were not addressed in your training. No I do not mean one single solution that will work in each and every situation, but that by having learned varying methods you will have allowed for yourself to be able to improvise among those methods when you need to based upon many a situation in which you may find yourself, even those for which you have not specifically trained.

Before you can do that you need to realize that you cannot improvise based upon your experience and training if your training and experience have been to do the same exact thing each and every time. You see, in the real world the solutions may be a bit different each time just as are the situations in which you may find yourself. Will that solution ever wind up being the absolute one way that some firearms guru type has insisted is the only way? Sure it will - maybe even more times than not - but you probably can safely bet your last pair of clean undies that when you are in a situation that makes the pucker factor fail it will not happen exactly that absolute one way. The law of averages is just not wired that way, and a check of the facts surrounding a large number of shootings will bear me out on this one. A different day, different time of day, different place, different attacker, different number of antagonists, different lighting, different weather, different distances, different positions, different weapons, and so on, will make each and every situation, and your response(s) to it, different. Heck you may have taken a fall in a bad encounter and bent your front sight - what would you do then if you only knew how to shoot by sighting in. Think it cannot happen - well if that is what you want to believe keeping thinking that way, but only think that way if you lead a charmed life. If Murphy is one of your buddies though, then be prepared for the worst.

So why not make yourself ready for that worst case scenario, or that different set of circumstances, and go out and sign up for some self defense handgun training. Then once you have completed the first course sign up for another with another instructor at a different range, or at least for a different level of instruction from the same instructor if you cannot find another instructor. If the instructor is worth what you are paying for the course you will learn a bunch of different ways to shoot using and not using your sights, and if he does not teach you along those lines - well then look for another instructor and see what he or she teaches you. The varying methods they teach you, combined with a little bit of smarts and good situational assessment by you, combined with a lot of practice on your part, may someday keep your undies clean, and you from bleeding, because you got it right before you were all puckered out and all shot up.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Firearms Training and Tactics 2 - Learning To Shoot…

…can be undertaken for a number of reasons. You may want to learn how to shoot for self defense, for competition, for hunting, as required by your job, or just for fun. Whatever the reason, learning to shoot can usually be lots of fun; but you do need to think safety (see my first rant in this series), and you do need someone else to teach you how to safely handle and shoot firearms. Sure you can try to teach yourself, but that would be like a defendant in court who defends himself, he has a fool for a client.

I recommend that you arrange for someone to teach you who is not only knowledgeable in firearms safety, and how to shoot, but who has been in some manner certified or otherwise qualified to be a firearms instructor. The National Rifle Association (NRA) offers courses in firearms training through its network of NRA certified instructors. If you choose one of them to train you, shop around as I found that prices for such training can vary markedly. I imagine there are other organizations who certify firearms instructors to whom you could also go to seek out a person to train you.

Some of the reasons you want a certified instructor to train you is because they do this professionally, because they know or should know what needs to be taught to you, and they have been trained in how to train. In other words they are a whole lot more likely than the average Joe Shooter to train you properly without leaving something out, and without teaching you bad habits. Of course I am not saying that the average Joe Shooter could not sufficiently train you, but yes I am saying that proper firearms training is more likely to come from someone who has been taught by a professional as to how to train others.

Whoever trains you should begin with firearms safety and nomenclature. For example if they tell you to keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to shoot, they should also be telling you what is a trigger. A good instructor does not assume that you know these things, or that common sense dictates anything about firearms and their use to you. In order to learn about firearms properly and safely, you need to be taught about them from step one, by a competent trainer, it is that simple.

As a student you need to resign yourself to the fact that the instructor probably knows more than do you, and this is often true even if you are an advanced shooter. You have to allow yourself to be taught. Do not enter a training situation with a hostile attitude toward the instructor, or with an attitude that you already know it all. This would be quite counterproductive and could wind up in loss of a life. Instead, go into the classroom with an open mind. Expect to learn new things or to get a refresher on things. If you are a new shooter, you will of course learn new things, but an old time shooter also needs to go into the classroom with an open mind. As you receive instruction, ask questions if there are things about which you are uncertain. Participate in the learning experience as much as practical. Make sure that you are satisfied that you understand what is being discussed or exhibited before you move on. Remember you are learning about something, that if done properly can be lots of fun, but if done improperly can result in needless injury or loss of life. While it can be fun, it is also deadly serious business.

While in the classroom pay attention not only to the instructor, but to the questions posed by other students. Make sure to attend all of the classes, always paying attention while in the classroom or at the range (which in fact could be the classroom so to speak). Study at home whatever handouts you are given in the classroom. If you already have one, don’t take out your firearm at home and start practicing anything you learned in the classroom until you have fully completed the classroom. Remember too, some things are never practical or safe to do at home with firearms.

When you take whatever written and practical shooting tests that you will be required to pass, always follow the instructions given to you by the person in charge of the class; and make sure you pay full attention to them before proceeding with anything, especially before handling a firearm. Don’t cheat on written tests, it really only goes to make you less proficient, and more unsafe, with firearms.

While handling a firearm in the classroom, or while on the range, never anticipate the commands of your firearms instructor. There are a couple of very important things to understand about the previous sentence. Yes the firearms instructor is in charge of the range and the people on the range. His instructions are to be taken as commands, and unless you want to be booted off of the range, you had better obey them. While you need to obey those commands, no you should never anticipate those commands. No matter how many times you go to the range for instruction, no matter how many times you have heard a command like “Ready on the left, ready on the right, commence firing” never anticipate something like that and start to shoot ahead of the actual command to do so. It could just be that the instructor says: Ready on the right, ready on the left, commence – CEASE FIRE” because he suddenly became aware of an unsafe condition.

Keep in mind that if the command CEASE FIRE is ever given, by anyone at the range, you stop firing and stop immediately. I will not, in this rant, go into more particulars about that in which you will be instructed because that will be up to your instructor, and because I need material for other future blogs.

As a new shooter, expect a class of at least three days in length, at least a few hours per day, before being qualified as a shooter who can go out on your own to shoot at a range or in the field. Some instructors may do this in one day, others in a week. Three days would be a good rule of thumb to cover the essential basics. After you might want to take more advanced training, or you may just want to shoot on your own. I recommend lots of practice in what you were taught by your instructor before you move onto a more advanced type of shooting. Spending one day a week at the range is a good goal to set, especially for newer shooters, but you may be able to maintain proficiency by practicing once a month, especially if you are an experienced shooter.

As to the type of gun with which you, as an adult, should learn to shoot, I recommend a firearm in just about any caliber you want, and for which your instructor is or has been certified with the exception of the really big calibers. Learning pistol or revolver shooting can be done with anything from a .22LR caliber up to a .45, but I would recommend a 9MM pistol, or .38 Special caliber revolver, each with at least a 3.5 to 6 inch barrel. I say this because of the less expense of shooting these, the availability of guns and ammo, the fairly easy recoil experienced by the shooter (enough to respect but not to fear), and the decent sight radius of guns with those barrel lengths. As for a rifle, you can learn to shoot with just about any caliber, but again recoil is a factor. Get one in something that is considered medium recoil when you first learn to shoot. Shotguns, relatively speaking, are much like rifles in the recoil regard, but you can use reduced recoil loads if you decide to get a larger gauged shotgun.

Of course, you can do all the same (except the shotgun stuff) with a .gun chambered in 22LR except for experiencing a decent amount of recoil; and guns chambered in .22LR are often relatively inexpensive, and the ammo is often very inexpensive. These are good guns for adults to use as first guns when shooting. Rifles, revolvers, and pistols in .22LR are great starter firearms for children. I would recommend a Bolt Action Rifle repeater (with box or tube magazine), chambered in .22LR, to start off any child in the world of shooting. This way when starting out you can use it as a single shot, and advance with the same rifle to using it as a repeater. Make sure the rifle fits the child, youth models are often available. I guess I should note that children 9on average in my opinion) as young as about 8 or 9 can be safely taught to handle and shoot firearms, but they require an added safety rule: NEVER HANDLE A FIREARM UNLESS MOM OR DAD OR YOUR FIREARMS INSTRUCTOR GIVES IT TO YOU TO HANDLE. Children shooters require competent adult supervision at all times.

There is plenty more to learn, but I leave it to your instructor to teach you in the real world, and to my future blogs to explain such in the virtual world. Of course, if you have questions, leave them in the comments section, and if I can answer them, I will do so.

Always follow the safety rules, and you will probably have years of fun shooting.

All the best,
Glenn B
aka: Ballseye

Ballseye's Firearms Training And Tactics 1 - Firearms Safety

Oh where to begin on such a subject without sounding like a kindergarten teacher. Well at the risk of sounding like just that, I will start where anyone who teaches about firearms should start, and that is on safety.

Many folks out there who teach others how to shoot, will tell you there are what they call "The 4 Rules". They will try to convince you, and probably will convince you if you are a newcomer to the world of firearms, that these 4 rules are the bedrock of firearms safety. They may tell you how Colonel Jeff Cooper wrote them up in one of his books. Then they will tell you all about Colonel Cooper. Then they also may tell you these 4 rules are all you need to be concerned with concerning firearms safety. If they tell you that these rules are all you need be concerned with, or are primarily all you need to be concerned with, then they are, in my opinion, absolutely wrong! There are quite a few more cardinal rules of firearms safety to which you need to adhere devoutly.

Now before any of you firearms aficionados, and lovers of the recently deceased Colonel Jeff Cooper, get all bent out of shape thinking that I am debasing your idol or hero; or that I am not qualified to speak about firearms safety, allow me to give you some of my background relative the subject. I have been shooting since I was about 9 years old. I learned the rules of firearms safety way back then, which would be about 42 years ago. There were quite a few more rules being taught back then than now. In 1979, I entered the federal service as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent. I have also been employed as a Customs Patrol officer, Customs Investigator, Customs Special Agent, and am currently an ICE Agent. I have done temporary duties with the U.S. Secret Service, and with the Federal Air Marshals (this right after 9/11). I have been in armed, and other life threatening, encounters at work. Thankfully not where anyone has shot at me, but I have been whacked with quite a few hard objects, and had one guy try to slice and dice me; and I had one guy take a small chunk out of my arm by biting me after he tried to grab my own revolver to shoot me. (Hmm, I guess there was one time at work then when someone did try to point a gun at me, but was not successful.) As part of my collateral duties I was assigned as a firearms instructor for about 14 years. I was also assigned as a Confrontational Safety Awareness Instructor (hand to hand defensive maneuvers, and how to avoid confrontation if possible) for several years; and was assigned as a Chemical Spray Instructor for several years. As to firearms, I instructed other agents in how to shoot: revolvers, pistols, shotguns, rifles, and sub-machineguns.

I do not instruct any loner, and have not done so for about 5 years now because I apparently pissed off a boss and they removed me from the job I liked best. It had nothing to do with anything I had done at the range or in my duties as a firearms instructor as far as I am aware, and was more likely to do with my big mouth in the office. I often tell bosses what they do not like to hear, which is the truth about how things are being done at work. When it sucks, I let them know in no uncertain terms. I can only imagine this is why I was told not to report to the range any longer, because it happened right after a conflict with one of my bosses under the newly formed agency known as ICE, and there was plenty about which I was remarking at the time, therefore there were a few bosses pissed off at me. They still refuse to give me a reason for all this, and I have stopped asking. Just wanted to get that out of the way.

Despite no longer giving instruction on my job, I still train relentlessly with firearms. I also teach my son how t shoot rifle and shotgun. Last year he went on his first ever big game hunt. We went to Maine on a semi guided bear hunt. When the guide had everyone in camp shoot at a target to make sure they knew what they were doing, Brendan (my son) shot right through the center of the bulls eye. He was the youngest hunter in the group. I could see that the guide thought it was a fluke and he asked him to shoot at the target again. Right after the 2nd shot, the guides dad sounded off with two words: "he's ready". Brendan had another shot that had touched the first. He got a bear on that hunt, shot it exactly in the kill zone, right through the heart. In addition to a successful hunt, let me tell you he handled the firearm safely at all times. This was commented upon to me by the guides more than once, and I can assure you had he been unsafe, the hunt of a lifetime would have ended immediately. I am a stickler for safety with guns. As you will learn, I have made my own mistakes with them, and you can bet I have learned from them.

I digress. Okay, back on subject a little more directly.

Firearms safety is the responsibility of almost anyone who picks up a firearm, who stores a firearm, who displays a firearm, or who simply owns a firearm. Note I said almost anyone. If a toddler picks up a firearm, well then firearms safety is not his/her responsibility is it. Yet someone is responsible for safety with said firearm, and is responsible for allowing the baby to get hold of it. Think about it.

Whenever you handle, store, display a firearm, or firearms, there are certain safety rules to follow in order to help assure that no one is These rules have been around for many, many years. They are not difficult to learn, and they are not that numerous that you cannot learn them all relatively quickly. You will see there are quite a few more than 4 of them; and with all due respect to the departed Colonel Cooper, how anyone could have reduced them to 4 seems irresponsible to me.

Here are the rules that I believe we must follow each time we are involved with firearms:

1. Learn the rules of firearms safety before handling any firearm or ammunition. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

2. Get proper training about the particular firearm, that you are about to handle, before you handle it. (That means before you touch a firearm in any way shape or form. Such could just be a briefing from the person handing it to you, or such could be reading the manual that comes with a new gun.) Funny how often people leave out this rule, but it is not funny when you are at the range and see a guy who is totally flummoxed on how to operate the firearms he is handling, and then violates some of the other rules while trying to figure it out. Having such a person point a gun at you is a sobering experience. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life..

3. Each time you handle a weapon, treat it as if it were loaded.

If you are about to do anything but shoot from the draw out of a holster, then check to see if it is loaded or not before you do anything else (hopefully if you are in a shooting from the draw situation you have checked to make sure it was indeed loaded before getting to that point of shooting it). This means even if you already checked, know it is unloaded, and you put it down - even for only a second or two - when you pick it back up you must treat it as if loaded and check again to see if it is loaded or not. In fact you always treat a gun as a loaded weapon in any shooting, showing, handling situation except in certain circumstances such as cleaning it, but even then, each time you handle it, you handle it as if it were loaded and check to make sure if it is or not. When you check the firearm, remove the ammunition - this includes any in a magazine, the cylinder, or in the chamber. Then look and feel to make sure it is empty, do this at least twice. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life..

4. Always point a firearm in the relatively safest direction - and this applies whether it is loaded or not. (I am sure you have heard the excuse, after someone got shot, that the shooter did not know the gun was loaded. Well the accidental shooter just violated rule number 1 and rule number 2; and as you will see, likely rule number 3 too.) Remember too that a safe direction is not always up, or down, or to the right or to the left, or straight ahead. A safe direction depends upon the circumstances in which you find yourself, and some directions may be relatively safer than others in this regard, use the direction you think is safest. Point the firearm in the safest direction of which you can think. Of course there can be exceptions, such as if checking for a barrel obstruction and you have to look down the barrel, but then make sure to follow rules 1, 2 and 4, and even follow this rule until you actually have to look and only do so in a safe place, don't start doing this by turning the gun around with other people in the potential line of fire. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life..

5. Always keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to shoot. Most guns, in good working order, will not go off unless you squeeze the trigger; some guns in good working order can though, and others with malfunctioning parts can too, so again you see the importance of rules 1 & 2 above. Again, there are exceptions since some guns require you to squeeze the trigger to make them safe or disassemble them (like many Glocks), but then again follow the other safety rules. Carry out this rule concurrently with rule 3 and 2.

For example, you are at a range, you finished shooting, and you have unloaded your gun. You place it on the bench pointed downrange. You get your gun case. You pick up the weapon and point it not downrange but to the right to get it into your gun case. As you do so, you fiddle with the safety, the gun goes bang and shoots the guy next to you. You unloaded the gun, you did not have your finger on the trigger, you were putting it away. What did you do wrong? First of all, you forgot to remove the bullet in the chamber when you thought you unloaded it by removing the magazine full of bullets. This happens, even to well experienced shooters, call it a brain fart - one that can be deadly. Then you laid it down and picked it up again without checking again to see if it was loaded; and it was indeed loaded. Then you pointed it in an unsafe direction while handling and operating it (even if only operating the safety). Then it went bang. Now you are in jail, and someone is dead. Don't think this could happen, just inquire about certain Remington bolt action firearms, because other people swear this is just about what happened to them. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

6. Make sure that any firearm you are handling is in proper working order before attempting to shoot it. Common sense, you can bet it is not because people assume too much. When going to the range it is always a good idea to make sure the barrel is unobstructed before shooting it. Of course this sometimes requires looking down the barrel, so you had better make sure that you have checked and double checked to see that the gun was unloaded before doing so. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

7. Always use the correct ammunition for the firearms you are shooting. Again, this sounds like common sense, but it is a confusing subject to the new comer what with all the calibers out there. Most guns are marked with what caliber they shoot, but if in doubt ask the manufacturer if possible, otherwise ask a competent gunsmith. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

8. Never mix alcohol or illicit mind altering drugs with firearms; and make sure that prescription drugs do not affect you to the point where you cannot safely handle a firearm. Is this common sense, it should be, but you might be surprised just how many people have a few drinks, or smoke just one, while or before they shoot. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

9. Always be sure of your target and what is beyond. Some may wonder why it took me so long to get to this rule. Well if you are out shooting, and you have not already followed the other rules, chances are you are wounded or dead by now, or that you have wounded or killed someone else.

For example, you are out target shooting, you find a nice hill, and you place your targets along the bottom of the hill, using the hill as a back stop. Not bad, but did you ever check to see what was on the other side of the hill. People often shoot over backstops either because of poor shooting habits, or because of ricochets. Another example is you are out hunting, you see a deer, It walks behind a bush, but then its head emerges. You know your deer, and you can easily figure where its body is located behind the bush. You decide to shoot. The shot misses, passes through the bush and hits the other hunter who was 50 yards away behind the bush and obstructed from your view. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

10. Wear eye and ear protection while shooting or observing someone shoot. Again you would think this is common sense, but I can assure you such is not the case. All too many folks hear a constant ringing in their ears because of gun shot noise. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

11. Always keep your gun unloaded when not in use. In other words when put into storage, even if only for the short term. This is a good idea just in case you screw up on rule number 2 the next time you handle it. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

12. Always store guns and ammunition securely. This can mean either locked away in a safe, or a gun cabinet. It can also mean out in plain view but with a secure trigger or action lock in place. It is best to store ammunition away from firearms. Keep storage as safe as practical, but make sure it is safe. You don't need non-informed persons picking up your own gun and shooting you, or themselves, with it. It also keeps the kiddies safe. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

13. Make absolutely certain that anyone else with whom you shoot, or to whom you allow access to a firearms, observes these rules. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life.

14. Think firearms safety, whenever around firearms, it could save a life. This phrase appears 13 times above. The word ‘think’ appears about 20 times. There really is a good reason I repeated them so many times: The life I save by teaching you to be safe, and to think about firearms safety, may be my own. Think about that regarding your own life, or that of your spouse, your children, your friends, and the stranger next to you at the range - he could be me.

You may want to abide by 4 rules (which are in essence included in the above 14 rules) thinking they are enough, but if you really want to make sure you shoot safely, my advice would be to follow the other rules too. It would take all of about 5 minutes to explain 4 rules to someone, and all of about 15 or 20 minutes to explain the above to someone. Really think about it, and ask yourself: "Would it be worth taking that little extra time, and effort, to make sure the person handling the firearms knows how to do it safer than by just the 4 rules? I think the answer is a no brainer; and I am often surprised at just how many folks disagree with me. You have to decide for yourself. Safe shooting, handling, gunsmithing, collecting - or whatever is our responsibility.

All the best,

Glenn B