First time shooting
Welcome to the wonderful sport of shooting. There is so much to learn and you have just begun your journey. Be thankful that you experienced fear. The realization that you can be seriously injured or killed by a handgun will go a long way in keeping you safe. Gradually your fear will be replaced by a healthy respect for the consequences of being careless around loaded handguns. A few good rules:
1. There is no shame and it is in fact a good idea to check not once but two times that your weapon is unloaded. This means removing the magazine and pulling the slide back to be sure there is no cartridge residing in the barrel.
2. Never point the gun's barrel at yourself or any other person even if you know the gun is unloaded.
3. Satisfy yourself that there is nothing behind your target that you wouldn't want to accidently hit.
4. If something goes wrong with the firing of the gun when you pull the trigger, (doesn't sound right or something else doesn't seem right), never look down the barrel to see what may be there. You may have a "hang fire" and looking down the barrel could get you a bullet in the eye.
Lastly, don't forget to practice double and tripple taps. That's two or three quick shots bunched together. If you can group three quick shots within four or five inches at a distance of seven to ten feet that's probably going to win the day.
