Firearms are Not Meant to Be “Safe”, But Gun Safety is at All Time High

Opinion

Gun Banner Dianne Feinstein
Accordingly, finger-discipline, muzzle-consciousness, alertness, correct storage mandatorily apply to every gun-handling episode. Gun banning Democrat Dianne Feinstein doing the exact opposite.

Ft Collins, CO –-(Ammoland.com)- Gun Accidents:

“If you haven’t figured it out yet, an absolutely certain way to lose something as quickly as possible is to forget the privilege you have to possess it in the first place.” ~ Craig Lounsbrough

With legal, private ownership of guns among the general population in the USA at an all-time high, one might expect gun-accidents (UDs) to be at an all-time high too.

Not the case!

Just as improvements in automobile safety have reduced traffic deaths and injuries, despite record-numbers of miles traveled daily by the car-owning American public, modern guns and ammunition, along with advanced materials, coatings, and manufacturing methods, have today given us commonly-available weapons that are inherently safer than firearms have ever been.

In fact, I’m not sure it is possible to make serious guns any “safer” than they are now, and still have them reasonably functional for their intended purpose.

All attempts at designing and manufacturing so-called “smart guns” have been an uncompromising nonstarter. Americans will never willingly bet their lives on this dubious, mythical “technology.”

Curiously, I don’t see any politicians rushing-out to buy “smart guns” for their bodyguards. Do you?

For many years, I’ve been personally involved in the investigation and subsequent litigation surrounding gun-accidents (and “alleged” accidents) resulting in injury and death, and I’ve yet to see a modern firearm, from a reputable manufacturer, that was “inherently unsafe,” nor that “malfunctioned,” nor “misfired” (a favorite term of media ignoramuses).

In nearly all cases, gun and ammunition in question functioned normally, and precisely as they were designed to do. Careless (stupid) gun-handling, storage, and incorrect procedure (usually combined) are invariably the culprits.

“Guns are dangerous, Councilor. Your client needs to be more careful.”

… is my usual response while under cross-examination.

In addition to guns themselves, modern, universally-taught gun-handling philosophy and procedure has also been largely responsible for the current relatively low level of gun accidents we realize today.

Long-obsolete “condition-based gun-handling” has been mostly replaced with “Universal Gun-Handling Procedure”

With the former, guns that were presumed to be unloaded, and thus “safe,” were handled carelessly, because they were assumed to be benign.

Conversely, “loaded guns” were “dangerous” and thus surrounded by a maniacal preoccupation with an interminable, and mostly nonsensical, set of “rules” with which it was impossible for anyone to comply.

For example, “Never load a gun until you’re ready to fire.”

When I carry a gun for personal protection, how am I supposed to know when I’ll have to be “ready to fire?” According to this “rule,” only prophets can carry guns.

Of course, when “dangerous” guns occasionally got mixed-in with “safe” guns, accidents were the logical and predictable result.

In his day, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) said: “In the typical American household, there is no commonly-found item quite so dangerous as an ‘unloaded’ gun.”

Even back then, inadvertent mixing-together of “safe” and “dangerous” guns was a well-recognized cause of gun accidents.

There are only two answers to this dilemma:

Weld them all shut, so that they can never be made to fire. They would then all be continually, permanently “safe,” and advocacy for this or that handling method/procedure would become irrelevant. Of course, in that case, it is hard to imagine anyone wanting one.

So long as the same gun is capable of firing, and also of not firing, and there is no way of discerning the gun’s current status by external appearance, the correct procedure is going to be critical to the continued good health of the gun-owner, and everyone around him.

Thus, our only logical choice is a “Single Gun-Handling Procedure” that is the same, regardless of the gun’s supposed “condition.”

Philosophically, there is no longer any such thing as a “safe” gun. That entire “category” of weapons has been banished.

Accordingly, finger-discipline, muzzle-consciousness, alertness, correct storage mandatorily apply to every gun-handling episode.

General adherence to the preceding is what has, probably more than anything else, reduced the incidences of gun-accidents to the relatively low level we enjoy today, as noted above. And, as it becomes more widely accepted and practiced, we’ll see gun-accidents continue to decline, despite exponential growth in gun-ownership.

As I’ve said so many times before, “safety” and “readiness” are always going to be mutually antagonistic. A serious gun’s “condition” will ever be a “reasonable compromise” between the two.

Absolute “safety” is probably not possible when handling deadly weapons.

But, we can handle them carefully.

Careless gun-handling is never “reasonable.”

“Careless minds build rotten buildings.” ~ Mehmet Murat ildan

/John


Defense Training International, Inc

About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor John Farnam will urge you, based on your own beliefs, to make up your mind in advance as to what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to make sure that their students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.

It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to the Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com

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tetejaun

I DO hope everyone noticed that Miss Gun Safety, Dianne Frankenstein, has her finger on the trigger. Americans are NOT ruled by an elite group of communist democrats. Americans are NOT slaves to the federal government. Americans DO NOT obey these unconstitutional gun control laws. Try acting, just a little, like our great Founding Fathers. They pledged their Lives, Fortunes & Sacred Honor to deliver freedom to the American People. Too many ‘Americans’ have a common disease the softens their spines and bends their knees. Sunshine Patriots are not needed or wanted. Live as free men or kneel to your… Read more »

MICHAEL J

Feinstein is still in office! Term limits would prevent attacks on the Constitution from within. Lifetime career politicians and their sponsors would not be able to enjoy the stronghold they have over the American people.

tetejaun

The anti-American communist democrats BELIEVE what Chairman Mao said, “All political power comes from the barrel of a gun”.
The moment Americans are disarmed, the streets will flow with the blood of those who oppose the communist democrats.

At the 2016 DNC Convention there were NO American flags on stage. BUT, there was a communist Chinese flag. On the last day of the convention, the DNC declared the ‘Communist Party USA’ IS the democratic party.

Vern

Stalin said “God comes out the barrel of a gun.” I would venture to say they both have a different mindset about that now.

einsteinsdaddy

Ma’am! Please take your finger OFF the trigger!

WP

35 years ago, I had what I call my “One”, as in “everyone gets one”. It used to be called an accidental discharge, but now more properly called a Negligent Discharge. Luckily, no one was hurt and the damage was nothing. But it increased my safety and awareness around firearms a hundred-fold. It was the classic inexperience blunder with a loaded 1911, racked the slide then dropped the mag, THEN PULLED THE TRIGGER….STUPID!!! Now I always do the proper order, check the chamber visually at least three times, and never touch a trigger unless I am about to send a… Read more »

willyd

I had mine in 2010, while locking all the guns in the safe before going on Vacation. mine involved a Springfield XD 45, while clearing it, pointed in the gun safe, Magazine out, starting to pull the slide back, slipped off the slide, finger hit the trigger and bang it fired into the safe. End result nobody hurt, damage was 3 stocks marred 1 sks destroyed, Trigger Unit and stock split, Lesson Learned Don’t get lax when clearing guns, they will get you if you are not paying attention to what your doing!

Vern

Several years ago I had a Remington 700 in 7mm mag. I was standing with my back to a tree with snow up above my knees and my rifle resting on my hip. My finger wasn’t even in the trigger guard and the safety was on, but my foot slipped from where I had my heel against the tree and the rifle went off. At first I thought there was someone else somewhere close by, no one. Then I realized it was my rifle that went off. I learned later there were some of them that were prone to do… Read more »

SgtJUSMC

This article is too kind. In my opinion the reason is that the only difference between socialists and communists is socialists still don’t have the power to force their rules on everyone, thus they need to disarm the population to move from socialists to full blown totalitarian communists.

Oldmarine

What people don’t realize is that she is a full-blown CRIMINAL.
She committed ” Perjury Under Oath “by attacking the Constitution, the 1st sentence of her Oath (Support and Defend the Constitution ) . There are Both Federal and State laws against this. She is nothing more that a Criminal trying to convince people that guns are bad and not how many crimes are prevented by guns. She wants to take away your right to self defense. If that happened she could be held responsible for every crime that could have been prevented with a gun.

RoyD

The statement, “and there is no way of discerning the gun’s current status by external appearance” does not apply to many guns. Two that come to mind are Glocks and single action 1911s. If the trigger is in the rearward position on a Glock the striker is in the forward position and can not deliver another strike to the primer without moving the slide. In the case of the single action 1911, because there are double action 1911s, if the hammer is down you can pull the trigger all day and nothing will happen until you cock the hammer. With… Read more »

tomcat

@USA It has been said that she has a concealed permit from commiefornia and she has a gun. How do you like them apples?