Why you dont play with guns

[TacitBlue]

I was raised around guns, my dad always taught me to be extra careful with them. To this day I always check the chamber as soon as I pick up a gun, even if I know it isnt loaded. Its like a conditioned habit. Even though Ive never actually needed a gun, I do keep one (call it an American thing). I believe that the key to gun safety is knowing how the gun works, what it can do, and what you are doing with it at all times. The guy in that video wasnt paying attention to what he was doing with his gun. It looks like he had the slide open, and put the clip in before he closed it, which means he put one in the chamber. cant say why he pulled the trigger though...

[RichieB16]

:o the gun must have been bigger than yourself! which model were you shooting at that age?

My father helped me hold it, he felt that it was important that I learn how to use them and be around them from a young age.  The thought was that I underestood it was a tool and had a proper use, I wouldn't try and play with it.  So, a couple times he helped me shoot a very small single shot .22 rifle he had and a basic BB gun (the BB gun more often than the .22, but I did shoot the .22 at about that age).  

I think it worked though.  I grew up having used guns (I continue to shoot today regularly and I hunt) and I have always viewed a gun as a tool-with a specific purpose.  Just like any tool, if you misuse use it or make a mistake it can kill you.  I think this was a very good approach to this.  I have been raised around guns and they were normal to me.  Of course, they were stored safely when they wern't used.

[Woodlouse2002]

Make guns illegal. But to balance it off, legalise artillery. It'll slow people down. And you won't have so many kids taking field pieces into school.

[jordonj]

I'm more for making gun safety education more mandatory, the standards for ownership more stringent, and making (borrowing from Chris Rock) bullets more expensive (each bullet should cost $5000!)

[RichieB16]

I'm more for making gun safety education more mandatory

I think that would be a good idea, but it would be difficult to enforce because there are guns already out there.

[C]

Make guns illegal. But to balance it off, legalise artillery. It'll slow people down. And you won't have so many kids taking field pieces into school.

Lol! The M25 will be an easier place when i take my old Chieftan out for a spin...

[beaky]

All the talk about this clip made me curious, but now  I wish I hadn't watched it.  :-/
  Remarkable that a police officer could be so careless, but at least he remembered not to point it at the kids. Reminds me of a news item a while back about an NYC cop who shot himself while cleaning his gun. I have no experience handling guns, but it seems to me that Step 1 in gun cleaning should be making absolutely certain there are no live rounds in the magazine or chamber. Same goes for demonstrating any function of a gun in front of a room full of people! Not very encouraging, even if such things seem rare...  ::)

[Hagar]

On the subject of professionals handling firearms safely. I can remember two separate incidents in the last couple of years where members of our Queen's personal bodyguard discharged their pistols by accident while unloading them. Not only that but one was in the the same railway carriage as the Queen herself. I would have thought that these people would have been hand-picked & the very best they can get. Doesn't say a lot for the others does it?

I'm more for making gun safety education more mandatory

As TacitBlue pointed out, this is an American thing. You're quite free to do what you want & I have no objection to that. I just hope that I never see the day when it's necessary over here. Educate those with licenced firearms by all means & I'm sure this is already done. Same goes for the military but this is not the case for the majority of ordinary people in this country.

[chomp_rock]

What a fool!

I've had my own pistol since I was 8 (shooting since 5) and I've never even had a misfire. It is all about proper training and respect for your firearm, which that guy obviously did not have!

[Scorpiоn]

Ahoy to all that.  You should always treat a firearm as if it was loaded, unless you yourself checked and know otherwise.

Education?  I doubt it.  I doubt all these education programs and all really make a difference.  If they were done in good will, they might work, but as things turn out, most anything dependent on good will fails (such as some forms of government).  There is no cure for a complete lack of common sense, and this goes much beyond just the topic of firearms.

Curious how people used to never shoot themselves by accident.  And kids were just as war inclined "back in the day" as they are now.  Cowboys and Indians has evolved into Counterstrike, that's all.