Gun Safety Issues Blog

The Parents' Responsibility For Their Kids Safety

Clark -Carryconcealed.net — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:13:10 GMT

Our view of gun ownership is one of safety for the CCW Permit holder and the relatives around the firearms. We have constantly said that gun ownership crosses political, ethnic and religious barriers. All responsible gun owners, who are parents, need to take the extra precautions in the home when children are involved. Our open society is the greatest in the history of mankind, but it comes with responsibilities. Xbox and Playstation games are increasingly more violent and giving a false representation of guns as toys rather than tools to the next generations. Safety comes from following the four golden rules, and following up on our 4^th Golden Rule; Training and Practice.

Teaching kids about gun safety falls under Golden Rule #4; Training and Practice. There are good places to get the information that are readily available. The NRA has the Eddie Eagle Program that will work if you have decided that your child is not ready to be trained at this time. The NRA children’s program helps explain that he or she must not touch a gun in your home, unless you are present and have given permission. If your child sees a gun outside the home, teach him or her to follow the instructions of NRA's Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program:

The Key Points For Kids:

STOP!
Don't Touch.
Leave the Area.
Tell an Adult.

The initial steps of "Stop" and "Don't Touch" are the most important. To counter the natural impulse to touch a gun, it is imperative that you impress these steps of the safety message upon your child.

In today's society, where adult supervision is not always possible, the direction to "Leave the Area" is also essential. Under some circumstances, "area" may be understood to be a room if your child cannot physically leave the apartment or house.

"Tell an Adult" emphasizes that children should seek a trustworthy adult - neighbor, relative or teacher - if a parent or guardian is not available.

The NRA's Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program includes an instructor guide, activity books, poster, and an animated video to explain its four-step safety message. For more information about the program or to obtain the materials, call (800) 231-0752.

Parents who accept the responsibility to learn, practice and teach gun safety rules will ensure their child's safety to a much greater extent than those who do not. Parental responsibility does not end, however, when the child leaves the home.

According to federal statistics, there are guns in approximately half of all U.S. households. Even if no one in your family owns a gun, chances are that someone you know does. Your child could come in contact with a gun at a neighbor's house, when playing with friends, or under other circumstances outside your home. It is critical for your child to know what to do if he or she encounters a firearm anywhere, and it is the parents' responsibility to provide that training.

Talking With Your Child About Gun Safety
There is no particular age to talk with your child about gun safety. A good time to introduce the subject is the first time he or she shows an interest in firearms, even toy pistols or rifles. Talking openly and honestly about gun safety with your child is usually more effective than just ordering him or her to "Stay out of the gun closet," and leaving it at that. Such statements may just stimulate a child's natural curiosity to investigate further.

As with any safety lesson, explaining the rules and answering a child's questions help remove the mystery surrounding guns. Any rules set for your child should also apply to friends who visit the home. This will help keep your child from being pressured into showing a gun to a friend.

Toy Guns vs. Real Guns
It is also advisable, particularly with very young children, to discuss gun use on television as opposed to gun use in real life. Firearms are often handled carelessly in movies and on TV. Additionally, children see TV and movie characters shot and "killed" with well-documented frequency. When a young child sees that same actor appear in another movie or TV show, confusion between entertainment and real life may result. It may be a mistake to assume that your child knows the difference between being "killed" on TV and in reality.

If your child has toy guns, you may want to use them to demonstrate safe gun handling and to explain how they differ from genuine firearms. Even though an unsupervised child should not have access to a gun, there should be no chance that he or she could mistake a real gun for a toy.

What Should You Teach Your Child About Gun Safety?
If you have decided that your child is not ready to be trained in a gun's handling and use, explain that he or she must not touch a gun in your home, unless you are present and have given permission. If your child sees a gun outside the home, teach him or her to follow the instructions of NRA's Eddie Eagle ? Gun Safety Program:

STOP!
Don't Touch.
Leave the Area.
Tell an Adult.

Rules about shooting guns are hard to enforce

MICHAEL A. SCARCELLA — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:12:17 GMT

EAST MANATEE -- Brenda Haskins was watching TV when a bullet tore into her home, shattering a glass door and slamming into a kitchen cabinet. She crawled to a neighbor's house, fearing she was a target. Sheriff's deputies raced to the neighborhood.

The shooter was not a sniper but a Naples woman who had fired three 9 mm rounds into the woods from the backyard of her mother's home. Adrienne M. Mitchell was charged with unlawfully shooting a gun in public.

Mitchell, 22, was punished with probation and community service. She apologized, telling deputies she could have killed someone.

Shooting a gun in public is a crime in many scenarios, and the Mitchell case reveals how a shot into the woods can terrify a neighbor on the other side. Haskins' home in River Club is less than a mile from where the gun was fired. She never heard the shot.

"When you shoot a gun, the bullet has to go somewhere," says Haskins, 53, who was near her kitchen that evening in August 2006. "Common sense has to enter into it."

Prosecutors are aggressive in filing charges against shooters who fire in backyards. Allowing residents to shoot in yards is a threat to public safety, the state says.

But applying the public-shooting laws to all backyards is dangerous because yards are not public, says a defense attorney in Bradenton who is challenging the law. A court battle in Manatee County seeks to resolve the issue. The sides will square off this week in court.

In the past two years, only a handful of people have been charged in Manatee County for shooting a gun in public. The cases have been brought against shooters in neighborhoods.

In one case, the state dropped the charges against a Bradenton man who fired a shotgun defending his home and a friend from an intruder.

In a pending case, Marlon Castellanos fired two shots in his backyard in the 1500 block of 19th Avenue West in Bradenton. He told police he was upset about losing a soccer game.

Castellanos, 32, was booked on the charge of unlawfully shooting a gun in public. But the state recently dropped the charge and applied a different one: a Bradenton ordinance that makes it a crime to shoot a gun anywhere in the city except at a range and in self-defense.

The ordinance is more restrictive than the state law.

A homeowner, the state law says, is allowed to fire a gun on private property as long as the bullet does not cross over a house or over a public street. Florida's public-shooting law does not address a shooter's distance from one house to another.

In Ellenton, Joe Forestandi's home is hundreds of feet from Ellenton-Gillette Road and from his neighbors' houses. A forest begins where Forestandi's backyard ends. There is undeveloped land on the other side of the woods.

Forestandi, 36, is being prosecuted for shooting a handgun behind his home. He says he fired once into the ground. The state says there is no evidence to prove what happened to the bullet.

That is in contrast to the case against Mitchell, the Naples woman who fired into woods in East Manatee. The bullet she fired struck a home.

Sheriff's deputies were in Forestandi's neighborhood investigating a burglary early one morning in February when officers heard a shot.

"Now, when you saw Mr. Forestandi, he was in his backyard, correct?" Forestandi's attorney, Mark Lipinski, asked a sheriff's deputy in a deposition last month.

"That's correct," the deputy, Willie Finklea, said.

"He wasn't in a public place, was he?" the attorney continued.

"Not according to that statute, not that way, no," Finklea responded.

Finklea says Forestandi appeared drunk. But the state did not file a charge of shooting while intoxicated.

But that charge is in play and could be filed if the state drops the public-shooting accusation against Forestandi, who has denied being impaired when he fired his 9 mm handgun.

Finklea says Forestandi's speech was slurred and his breath smelled like alcohol. Officers found five or so beer cans in the home. But Finklea did not ask Forestandi when the beer had been consumed.

Proving that Forestandi was intoxicated when he fired the shot would be challenging for the state.

The easier charge to prove -- the public-shooting allegation -- is turning out to be the hardest one to defend.

Haskins says she wants shooters to think twice before pulling the trigger.

The emotional trauma brought by the bullet that ripped into her home has faded. The fact someone was charged quickly, and punished, eased her nerves.

Just last week, Haskins got a check in the mail, compensation for the damage the bullet caused.

Carryconcealed.net General Gun Safety Rules

Clark - Managing Editor Carryconcealed.net — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:13:56 GMT

When handling, using, or storing any type of firearm, safety must be your first concern. Gun safety rules must be understood and applied in all situations involving firearms. Jim who is Carryconcealed.net's Senior Technical adviser is shown on a local range. Notice that he also has shooting glasses and hearing protection.

The five fundamental rules of gun safety must always be applied simultaneously when handling or using a gun:

1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.

2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.

3. Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use, and ready to kill in defense if the situation requires.

4. Get training and practice.

The following gun safety rules should also be observed when using or storing a gun:

Know your target and what is beyond.

Be sure the gun is safe to operate.

Know how to use the gun safely.

Use only the correct ammunition for your gun.

Wear hearing and eye protection as appropriate.

Never use alcohol or drugs before or while shooting.

Store guns so they are not accessible to unauthorized persons.

5.Everyone claims that an accidental shooting happend with an unloaded gun.

Be aware that certain types of guns and many shooting activities require additional safety precautions.

Types Of Guns And Gun Actions
The two basic types of firearms are pistols (handguns) and long guns. The most common types of pistols in use today are revolvers and semi-automatics.
To understand how a firearm works, it is first necessary to understand the firearm's action. The action is a group of moving parts used to load, fire, and unload a gun. A gun is usually identified by its type of action. Various gun actions and unloading techniques are described here. When unloading a gun, always eject the cartridges into your hand or onto a soft, clean surface.

Semi-Automatic Action
Semi-automatic actions are opened by pulling the bolt handle straight to the rear. Some semi automatics have tubular magazines, while other models use box-type magazines.

To Unload:

If the gun has a detachable box magazine, remove it.

If the magazine is tubular or non detachable, see "Magazines" above.

Open and partially close the action several times by pulling the bolt handle to the rear to be sure that all cartridges are ejected.
Inspect the chamber (plus the action and any tubular or non-detachable magazine) to be sure that the gun is empty.

Hinge Action
Hinge actions are opened by moving a release lever to one side, and then moving the hinged barrel(s) downward. Hinge-action guns do not have magazines.

To Unload:

Activate the release lever and move the hinged barrel(s) downward.

Opening the action may cause the cartridges to be ejected from the firing chamber(s).

If the cartridges are not ejected, remove them from the chamber(s) with your fingers.

Inspect the chamber(s) carefully to be sure that the gun is empty.

Revolvers:
A revolver is a pistol with a revolving cylinder that holds cartridges in individual chambers. Each time the hammer moves to the rear, the cylinder turns and brings a chamber in line with the barrel and the firing pin. When the hammer falls, it causes the firing pin to strike and fire the cartridge. In single-action revolvers, the trigger performs only one action - releasing the hammer. The trigger does not cock the hammer. The hammer must be cocked with the thumb, and will stay in a cocked position until it is released by pulling the trigger. In a double-action revolver, the trigger performs two tasks. When it is pulled, it will cock and release the hammer. Most double-action revolvers can also be fired in a single-action mode by manually cocking the hammer with the thumb.

To Unload Single Actions:

Hold pistol in left hand by cupping hand so that the trigger guard is in the palm of the hand with the left thumb on the left side of the cylinder, and the index and middle fingers on the right side of the cylinder.

With your right thumb, open the loading gate. (*If the cylinder now turns freely, SKIP the next step.)

Use the right thumb to pull the hammer back two clicks.

The cylinder should now turn freely.

Grasping grip with right hand, use left thumb and fingers to align a loaded chamber with the loading port by turning cylinder.

Elevate muzzle in a safe direction; using left hand, push cartridge out of chamber with ejector rod.

Continue process until all chambers are empty.

SLOWLY rotate cylinder with left thumb and fingers while inspecting each chamber to be sure that all cartridges have been removed.

Close loading gate.

Place right thumb on hammer spur.

While controlling hammer with right thumb, pull trigger with right index finger to release hammer, using right thumb to gently lower hammer completely.

To Unload Double Actions:

Use right hand to place pistol in palm of left hand.

Operate cylinder release latch with right thumb; push cylinder out with the two middle fingers of left hand.

Place left thumb on ejector rod and elevate muzzle in safe direction.

Use left thumb to push ejector rod completely to rear, removing cartridges from chambers.
Inspect all chambers to be sure that they are empty.

Semi-Automatics:
A semi-automatic is a pistol that has only one chamber located at the rear of the barrel. Cartridges are held in a storage device called a magazine. When the pistol is fired, the slide moves to the rear, ejects the empty case, and usually cocks the pistol. On its return movement, the slide picks up a cartridge from the magazine and pushes it into the chamber.

To Unload Semi-Automatics:

Hold pistol in right hand.

Activate magazine release, and remove magazine from gun. (Magazine release locations vary - consult instruction manual or knowledgeable individual.)

Grasp rear portion of slide with left hand, and move slide completely to the rear, ejecting the cartridge from the chamber.

If the pistol has a slide stop, use it to keep the slide open.
Inspect chamber to be sure it is empty.

Muzzle Loading Guns:
1.Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
2.Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
3.Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

A muzzleloading gun is so named because it is loaded through the muzzle. It does not use cartridges; instead, it is usually loaded by pouring a measure of black powder into the barrel, and pushing a cloth patch and lead ball into the barrel on top of the powder charge. Muzzleloading firearms are available in long gun and pistol models.

Due to the construction of a muzzleloader, it is not easy to tell if it is loaded. Don't try to determine this yourself; instead, have a knowledgeable person make sure that the gun is unloaded.

Contact the NRA Training Department at (703) 267-1430 for a list of instructors in your area. For more information on firearm safety, contact: NRA's Education & Training Division at (703) 267-1500. The National Rifle Association (NRA) provides a variety of courses in its Basic Firearm Training Program. These courses are conducted by NRA Certified Instructors and are available in the following subject areas: pistol, rifle, shotgun, home firearm safety, personal protection, and muzzleloading.