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We need not look any farther than the Punta Gorda, Fl, accidental shooting where a LEO killed a woman with a blank.

My bad.....did I say "blank"?

tex

Jusme wrote:

Abraham wrote:...and yet, usually unbeknownst by you, you're swept by those wearing horizontal shoulder holstered guns.

Oh, most of the time they're not only loaded, but there's one in the chamber...

Conundrum?

Not in my mind, since a gun in a holster in not in anyone's hand where their booger scooper can get to the trigger. JMHO.

This attitude worries me. This misses the entire point.

This discussion (this particular topic) has absolutely nothing to do with the actual physical condition of the gun...loaded, unloaded, trigger guarded, not guarded, holstered, not holstered.

This is all about the condition of the mind, the maturity, the attitude, responsibility, the awareness and the competence of the person holding or carrying the gun.

It doesn't matter how safe the gun actually is. What matters is how the user MAKES THE GUN SAFE. This is all about attitude. The entire module on Safe gun practices and handling that we teach as per the DPS is about just that. The same holds true for gun storage. You can't build a gun safe that will store a weapon safely against the onslaught of a stupid user.

The weakest link will always be the gun user or the person responsible for the gun.

tex

EdnaBambrick wrote:Father in law pointed a gun at me and my spouse (his child) at point blank range, alternately letting the muzzle cover our faces and bodies while he swung the gun back and forth for about 8-10 seconds. He wasn't angry, but for some reason had brought the gun out and was showing it to us. He was somehow oblivious that we were both asking him to stop and ducking and putting our hands up to protect ourselves the whole time. We left immediately and when we confronted him later about the incident he claimed the gun wasn't loaded.

While this poll question may seem sarcastic, I am doing it to make a point and share with the mother in law and sister in law that somehow think it was a harmless act on his part.

Should you feel safe? Seriously? Your effort to make a point with your mother in law and sister in law is laudable. So I'll help you with this response.

Your father in law showed the height of immaturity and reckless behavior when he waved his gun at another human being, much less his family. He endangered everyone in the room with the very real possibility of an accidental discharge (although, in this situation it would not have been accidental. It would have been a predictable outcome.) If there were a way to permanently ban him from every touching a firearm I would support it. He is one of the millions of irresponsible persons who are the cause of many of our firearm injuries and deaths each year.

You should have instantly removed yourself and your family from his presence as soon as he began this behavior (maybe you did, I can't tell how fast you left the situation from the post). You can never trust him with the care of your children (if you have any). You can never trust that he has removed any of his firearms from the home in an attempt to assuage your fears of him caring for any of your children. There are consequences to choices people make and he has revealed a very important piece of knowledge about himself that you should feel very fortunate that you now are aware of.

Most distressful of all is the rationale he used when he said the gun wasn't loaded, once again proving his lack of qualification to possess or handle a gun. This is precisely the mentality that gets many people killed each year.

I don't know what his teachability level is but he needs to acknowledge his dangerous reasoning, his dangerous handling of a firearm and the danger he placed his family in. Then he needs to have some training on proper gun mentality and handling followed by a consistent display of correct gun safety behavior. Until then he is only as good as his last display of stupidity. Treat him as the dangerous, reckless, and immature person that he is (regarding firearms) and refuse to have anything to do with him and firearms simultaneously.

tex