Gun etiquette question

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Here's the question I would ask if someone had an AD after being handed an unloaded gun, "Did you check the firearm to make sure it was unloaded?"

If the answer is "No" then I think you deserve whatever bad things befall you. Remember, stupidity can be terminal. You could kill or injure yourself or someone else by your actions or inactions. Do you really want that on your shoulders?

I double check each firearm through a series of steps. Basically:

Look
Touch
Feel
Then I "LOOK AWAY" and do it again

Are you sure that gun is unloaded? I even do this in a gunstore. It's a good habit to get in to and one that should never be violated.

Biker
 
Just remember.
All guns are always loaded.

It's when you break your system that it fails you. If you keep the habit then you won't screw up.
 
saw a perfect and frightening example of how important this is at a store just a few days ago. The place has an indoor range as well as a pro shop with rentals. The store policy prohibits loaded weapons in the store section. A customer comes in off the range to turn in a rental gun. The customer laid the weapon on the counter and asked to see another. The store clerk asked if the gun was unloaded, and the customer said "yes, of course." The shop clerk picked up the gun, pulled back the slide, and we all got to watch a live round was ejected from the gun and flew across the counter. Needless to say, I was a little shocked. I asked the clerk if that was very common and he stated that it actually was.

What if the clerk had not personally checked it or another customer picked it up without checking it himself?

Great question.

Be safe.

Shooter429
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Regarding your question:

If the clerk had not checked the weapon, and another shooter had picked it up without checking it, would the gun have gone off without someone squeezing the trigger?

I'm not trying to make light of someone handing back a loaded weapon, but the 4 rules exist for a reason. Even if I'm handed a loaded weapon, I will not ND because a: I don't put my finger on the trigger, and b: I don't point the gun where it can hurt someone.

I always check guns that are handed to me, but your question supposes that the next person to pick it up would have done so by the trigger.
 
I always check guns that are handed to me, but your question supposes that the next person to pick it up would have done so by the trigger.
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Given the number of fools in the world ...

pax
 
The first year or so I was shooting (10 years old or so) I took some what would now be called "child abuse" beatings for violating the "treat all guns like they were loaded" rules. Mostly verbal beatings, and a couple of times with the belt.

Harsh? Maybe in today's thought, but I'm grateful to both granddads for the yelling and time spend with the the leather strap (only twice actually, well deserved I might add) for this and a couple other valuable lessons.

Knock on wood I have not failed this test again since I was 10 (40 now).
Hope I won't.

My grandad would regularly open the gun cabinet and take some random rifle, check it, then hand it to me.

If I didn't immediately check it, even though I watched him do it, there was no shooting for me that weekend.

Now, sending me out with 5 rounds of .22LR and telling me to not come back til I had at least 4 bullfrogs, well that was just cruel lol

I became handy with the gig I kept hidden out back but that's another story ;)
 
Certainly do. As stated before this will relax those working in the store. I've had salesmen leave me holding a gun to stay with a customer who was obviously new to guns. Safety is always a good thing.
 
I always check a gun before handing it over. I give them an auto with the slide locked back or a revolver with the cylinder open. I check all guns handed to me regardless. :)

When I am at the range I leave revolvers and autos open on the bench so others can see they are unloaded.
 
While I agree with the practice of handing a gun BACK to its owner with the slide locked back, do you also follow that rule when you are handing your personal handgun over to a friend? Are you at all concerned that another person, even someone very experienced, might just release the slide lock and slam the slide closed???

Now, if they draw the slide back, lock it, and then release it to slam forward... well, that's just wrong. I think that is even more discourteous than dry firing without asking.
 
I was once handed a shotgun, loaded, whose action I proceeded to open. I missed the shell, and two more fell out when I bent down to grab the first.

Nearly blew off the right side of my head when I bent down to "dry fire" the "empty" gun to put it away. Turns out the other two shells came from my pocket.

Check. Not checking sets off my schmoe alarm, from here on out.
 
Gun store guy chimes in.

Most people I hand the gun to are NOT very experienced, and if there's going to be an ND, it's very likely to be in my general direction. It's not only courteous, it's in my best interests to check.

Most folks never even drop the slide, but they'll wave it around, finger on trigger, until I tell them to stop. I even have "experienced" guys who will close the action and hand it back that way. I usually make a point of opening the action and checking it (with a bit of dramatic flourish) when they hand it back.

Nobody seems to ask before dry-firing anymore. The worst are the old guys who'll dry-fire the gun 50-60 times, slam the slide open and shut, and then insist on one that "hasn't been handled so much."

If they sweep me (or someone else) with the muzzle more than once, and that person's gone. If they dry-fire with the muzzle covering someone, they're gone.

First off, every gun is always loaded. This dovetails into all the other rules. Ignorance is no excuse. If I see someone who's got no experience, I've got a stern-but-polite lecture I give, but if they keep it up, the polite part goes out the window.

I've no desire to get sued or dead.

Here's what I was taught. You don't hand someone a gun until you've checked it. You don't take a gun from someone who hasn't checked it. Even then, you keep the action open, finger off the trigger, pointed in a safe direction. It's courtesy, yes, but it's also self-preservation.
 
+1 to the check it yourself, safety one, also as stated many times before, shows the gun clerk you are competent and safety oriented.

On a side note, I once went to the gun store that I frequent, and brought one of my friends. I hear "Hey look here." When I turned, he had a used Remington 700 with scope pointed at me. We immediately left. Needless to say, some people just dont have common sence when it comes to guns.
 
Definitely, check it yourself, even if you just SAW it checked; this is why they added the "hammer down" sequence to "unload and show clear" during IPSC competition, just to make doubly sure that there's no round in the firearm. Also, when you're passing a firearm to someone else, I'd consider it common courtesy to take the magazine out and lock the action open, check it, then pass it to them with the action still open.
 
Have a friend who is now retired from LE after about 26 yrs. About year 21 or so, as a Lt. in detectives, he had a ND. As a uniformed officer, he had carried a 6" Python, and had extensive experience with them. One day while he was in his office, a younger uniformed officer brought in his Python he was having some trouble with and asked my friend to look at it. My friend watched the uniformed officer open the cylinder, dump the cartridges, and close the cylinder. The officer handed the revolver to my friend, but, my friend neglected to open the cylinder to check. He put the gun up next to his ear, with the long barrel pointing up and backwards behind him. He DA the trigger a couple of times listening to the action and then BOOM. Fortunately, the gun was pointing in as safe a direction as possoble in a city building in a relatively large city. It took out the window in his office, him which was on the 6th floor.

Unfortunately, he lost the eardrum in that ear. The doctor said that it looked as though it had been removed surgically, it was so completely gone. They were able to build a new eardrum, but he still does not have the hearing he used to have.

We have been good friends for over 35 years, and worked with him for about 4 of those years. I know that he knew better, but he admitted that he "saw the officer dump out the shells, and just had a lapse in habit of checking, just didn't think about one of them hanging up in the cylinder." I know that even though he damaged his hearing, and had to take a lot of ribbing from other officers, and crap from superiors, that he is thankful nobody was seriously injured or killed. It was pointed in a safe direction, at least as safe as up in a city can be.

If anybody gets offended about you checking after they have checked, s@#*w them. It's somebody's life at risk!
 
Xavier got it succinctly correct in post #16 in this thread; I won't repeat it here, but will add that if the sales clerk does a chamber check & tries to hand the weapon to me without the slide locked back, I request that he lock it back before I'll take it. After I'm finished with the firearm, I lock the slide back & check it before returning it.
 
There's nothing wrong to double-triple-quadruple-sextuple-sentuple...etc. checking.

You might get OCD. Disclaimer: Apologies to those that may have OCD.
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I actually do have OCD :uhoh: and while it can be hard to live with, one of my compulsions is "Checking" things, like if a door is locked, the stove is off, or if a gun is loaded, if the safety is on, etc. While OCD can very difficult to live with (I also "Close" things, I once locked myself out of my car twice in one day :mad:), this is one of the few things that makes it livable. I have irritated gun store employees by checking 5-10 times while looking over a weapon, though :p
 
I would not be offended in the least if I checked a gun, handed it over to someone, and then s/he checked it themselves, and I think most safety-minded gun owners would agree.

When you weigh the risk of "Offending" someone vs. the risk of an ND, the choice seems simple to me! :D
 
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