The lost art of muzzle discipline

[ezmorningrebel]

I follow a lot of people on Instagram and Facebook and I can't count the number of grip and grins I've seen this year where the guy or gals gun is laid across the deer pointing right at them. I get that the gun is likely unloaded but still. We've got to emphasize this to all young and new hunters.

 

[BrushyHillGuide]

I couldn’t agree more. I’m probably just getting old but there sure seems to be a lack of gun safety in the minds of young people today. I was always taught (had it literally beaten into me) that a gun should NEVER be pointed at a person under ANY circumstances. I wasn’t even allowed to point a cap gun at someone playing cowboys and Indians. Might seem extreme but I grew up in a family of hunters (my parents met and fell in love on a bear hunt) and surrounded by guns, shooting and hunting. We never even had a close call. I raised my kids that way. I’m glad I don’t have to go to public ranges because even the hunters I guide freak me out with their weapons.

Pictures can be deceiving and I suppose the gun could LOOK like it’s pointing at someone but not actually, in reality, be doing so. But you’re point is a good one!!


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[AKHUNTER]

This fall we saw a father and son sitting on the edge of a closed logging road glassing for deer. The guy set his rifle down with the bipod deployed and then apparently walked right in front of the gun and sat down to glass. His gun was behind him and aimed dead center on his back! We walked buy and thought what the hell!!! I noticed the boys gun was propped on a log in such a way that it was not very stable either. Anyway, muzzle control....

 

[mtnwrunner]

Watch some of the tv shows.......you'll see the muzzle pointed at a guys back all the time. It floors me.

Randy

 

[Bubblehide]

I'v invited several guys to hunt with me. I tend to be in the lead the vast majority of the time, and subsequently I am the first to sit down. I generally set my rifle in my lap, pointing in a direction I expect my partner to NOT sit. Inevitably, sometimes they walk past me and go to sit in the spot my rifle will be pointing directly at them. I of course make a point of pointing out the situation to them, while I move my rifle. IMNSHO, this is an issue we all need to aggressively police.

 

[archer wapiti]

Pictures can be deceiving and I suppose the gun could LOOK like it’s pointing at someone but not actually, in reality, be doing so. But you’re point is a good one!!


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I hope it's this more often than not, but nevertheless, original point is a good one.

 

[5MilesBack]

A lot of simple common sense stuff seems to have disappeared in society these days in every aspect of life. It's like waking up one day to bizarro world, and can't get out of the bad dream.

 

[Brado16]

A lot of simple common sense stuff seems to have disappeared in society these days in every aspect of life. It's like waking up one day to bizarro world, and can't get out of the bad dream.

Couldn't agree more, "Common Sense" is not so common anymore...

 

[Gobbler36]

Couldn't agree more, this past year was hunting with a friend and had to get into a verbal argument because he said he wanted to keep one chambered while hiking and I had to tell him we would go back to my truck and go home before I hike around with someone with a round in the chamber. It always perplexes me how some people never expect bad things to happen until the do and then the first words out of their mouths is " I can't believe that happened".

 

[Beastmode]

While in a hunting situation it’s is almost always avoidable in other situations it is not. I agree at all costs a gun should not be pointed at yourself or anyone else. I have some hunting photos that appear the gun is pointing at the person on the picture but in reality it is 3 feet in front of them.

For those that concealed carry you will understand what I mean when i way “other situations”. Sometimes your pistol is pointed at some point of your body.


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[doncarpenter]

Something I have always remembered from the service:

Treat
Never
Keep
Keep
Know

Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.

Never point your weapon at anything you dont intend to shoot.

Keep your weapon pointed in a safe direction with the safety on until ready to fire.

Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you intend to fire.

Know your target and what lies beyond.

I say those five things every time I pick up a weapon just to remind myself.


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[JWP58]

Something I have always remembered from the service:

Treat
Never
Keep
Keep
Know

Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.

Never point your weapon at anything you dont intend to shoot.

Keep your weapon pointed in a safe direction with the safety on until ready to fire.

Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you intend to fire.

Know your target and what lies beyond.

I say those five things every time I pick up a weapon just to remind myself.


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Add "know the condition of your weapon".

 

[Low_Sky]

Add "know the condition of your weapon".

"Treat" takes care of that one. A whole lot of holes have been put in things that didn't need holes by people who "knew it wasn't loaded".


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[woods89]

This was a lesson you learned quick with my dad. He had a very low tolerance for seeing the end of your barrel.

Firearms safety is one reason why I do most of my hunting by myself or with just a few close friends or family members that I know I can trust.

That said, we always hunted with a round in the chamber. I still do when I anticipate having to make an quick shot at an animal I may happen across at close range. I am VERY aware of that live round, though. If my rifle goes in my Gun Bearer or I'm climbing a fence, etc, that round comes out.

I know two people who have had negligent discharges. One wound up in the hospital with a bullet in his leg after trying to twirl a 22 revolver. (Yes, he was a teenager.) The other was a guy who was cleaning his 22 in his families basement. His sister came down the steps and said something to him. As a joke, he pointed his 22 at her and pulled the trigger, sure that it was unloaded. It wasn't, and his sister died on those steps right in front of him.

Both could have been prevented by the most basic of gun safety principles. I hope I'm as sticky about it as my dad was with me!

 

[Beendare]

Its THE most basic rule.....

I was in a Handgun class with 2 [new] cops and the instructors had to take the one cop aside as he was covering the female officer next to him with the muzzle.

 

[Grambo]

First thing I was taught at a early age was NEVER point a gun at anything you don't want to kill ! Shame that some people can't get that.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Muzzle control is something that I practice religously, and have trained my kids to do as well. Sadly, not all do as was evidenced at our last trip to the local gun range.

 

[JWP58]

"Treat" takes care of that one. A whole lot of holes have been put in things that didn't need holes by people who "knew it wasn't loaded".


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Which is the entire reason you need to know the condition of your weapon. It puts the responsibility of the user to actually pull their head out of their ass and know (for real) if their gun is loaded.

 

[orionsbrother]

Had a goof tell me once that he had followed the stalk his buddy put on a deer by "scoping" him. I told him he was an F'n moron. He said, " My finger was nowhere near the trigger! "

There are some scary kinds of stupid out there.

 

[Bubblehide]

Which is the entire reason you need to know the condition of your weapon. It puts the responsibility of the user to actually pull their head out of their ass and know (for real) if their gun is loaded.

Frankly, I simply don't get that statement, as a gun is ALWAYS loaded.

Last year, season before this past one, I took a newby deer hunting. He borrowed a rifle from his father, took it to the range to sight it in, and subsequently told me that the rifle had a couple discharges upon chambering a round, while at the range. I inquired about the make and model, and informed him that the make and model has a well known recall for just what he experienced. He cleaned the rifle at home and swore that the cleaning fixed the issue. days later, when we got to our hunting destination, Still dark with a steep hill to climb up, on foot, I told him to be sure to NOT chamber a round. He thought I was being overzealous about safety. Until once at the top of the hill, with me insisting on chambering a round for him, due to him having the rifle pointed in my direction as he was getting ready to grab the bolt handle to chamber a round. Long story short, the rifle fired upon chambering a round, and was nothing more than a heavy piece of wood with some metal attached, for safety reasons of course. Point being that there are lots of reasons for always treating a gun as if it could discharge at any time, thus a gun is always loaded, even when you "know" it isn't. The bottom line is that even if a person "knows" their gun is unloaded, but always treats a gun as though it is loaded, that person will NEVER need to pull their head out of their ass, they will never have any regrets, remorse...