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Gun Safety for KlutzesRonald Porep, Republished from SafetyIssues.com Issue 30 |
Volume 4 Issue 43June 2005 |
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Even the experts can become klutzes. A United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent became a gun klutz during a gun safety class for children held as part of an Orlando (Florida) child golf program. During the presentation about drugs and guns, the agent pulled out his gun – releasing the magazine and asking parents to look inside the weapon’s chamber to be sure it was unloaded. The agent should have looked himself too. “When he released the slide, the gun fired a round into the agent's leg. "It did let the children see that anybody can make a mistake,” describes Vivian Farmer, who witnessed the accident while attending the guest lecture with her nephew. |
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The child cried when they saw the agent
shot. The DEA agent had to go to the hospital to have the bullet removed
but returned to work the following day – facing nothing worse than an
investigation by his superiors in Washington D.C.. Unfortunately, most gun accidents do not end so innocuously. About 1,500 people of all ages die from gun accidents each year. Most of these accidents are preventable. All a gun user has to do to avoid an accident is treat his weapon with the deadly respect it deserves. |
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When handling a gun, keep it pointed in a safe
direction. A safe direction means that the gun is pointed so that if it
were to go off it would not cause injury or damage. The key to this rule
is to control where the muzzle or front end of the barrel is pointed at
all times. Common sense dictates the safest direction, depending on
different circumstances. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot. Rest your finger on the trigger guard or along the side of the gun. Until you are actually ready to fire, do not touch the trigger. |
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Keep the gun unloaded until you are
ready to use it. Whenever you pick up a gun, immediately engage the safety
device if possible, and, if the gun has a magazine, remove it before
opening the action and looking into the chamber(s) which should be clear
of ammunition. If you do not know how to open the action or inspect the
chamber(s), leave the gun alone and get help from someone who does. When storing a gun, lock it up where children and other adults untrained in gun use can not get it. Lock up the gun ammunition in a place separate from the gun also where children or an adult untrained in gun use can not get it. Lock up the cleaning supplies for your gun in a third place where no one but you can get it. And, keep the keys to the boxes and places where you lock everything up with you or in a place where no one but you can find them – NOT with your household keys. But all those precautions will prevent you from using the gun in an emergency such as someone invading your home? Actually, police advise not confronting a home invader. Instead, call 911 and follow the guidance of the emergency operator. Confronting an armed robber with a gun is dangerous as when bullets start flying, anyone can get hurt including you and your loved ones as well as the home invader. Thus having a gun ready to use in your bedside drawer can be more dangerous than not having a gun in your home. To get rid of the gun in your home, call the police non emergency number listed in your phone directory. Police will come to your home and take the gun. They will make sure the weapon was not used in a crime. If the weapon has not been involved in a crime, the police will destroy the gun. The best way to avoid a gun accident is to not own a gun. If you insist on having a gun, know how to use it safely. Otherwise, you could end up being a gun klutz – a deadly gun klutz. |
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