Toddler Shot By Loaded Gun Put Out At Missouri Yard Sale

[TimRB]

"However, there are a lot of people out there who haven't had the benefit of being told the 4 rules over and over again. They try and be safe by using a little common sense, and what they know."

I see what you're getting at, Flatrock, but I'm still not willing to let the guy off the hook unless he was so ignorant that he didn't even know that he was handling a firearm. Given that possibility, there are only two others that involve people of normal levels of awareness:

1) Experienced person -- "This thing could be loaded, so I'm going to check."

2) Inexperienced person -- "I have no idea if this thing is loaded, so I'm not going to handle it; I'll get the owner to show it to me."

The legislators here in California, in their neverending quest for roadblocks to erect in the path of lawful handgun buyers, have instituted a requirement for a "handgun safety certificate". To get one you have to pass a test. I have not taken this test myself, but I understand it's pretty basic. In fact, I have heard one gun-hater criticize the test because "it's just common sense," as if there was some sort of specialized safety knowledge required to handle a firearm without hurting someone.

Tim

 

[effengee]

I'm always amazed by the # of people killed while cleaning a firearm...

I personally have cleaned more than a hundred different weapons and never once shot anybody...
Am I doing something wrong or right?
I have this nagging habit of checking the chamber and removing the ammunition/magazine/cylinder BEFORE cleaning...

I've owned a Makarov and a PPK/S. Both had loaded chamber indicators.
Both had lock-down safeties. Both were treated like any other firearm...

IT"S ALWAYS LOADED!

As my Daddy used to say, (and still does, he's 75 this past June!)

"Guns are not toys, they're tools, and you don't play with tools, you work with them."

jim

If you value your right to worship your deity, assemble peaceably, and speak freely, then have the guts to take up arms and defend your right to do so. To do any less is to dishonor your faith, your friends, and your soul.
To beg someone else to do it for you, or to disrespect me for thus, is proof that you are worthy of no rights...

 

[mtnbkr]

I'm always amazed by the # of people killed while cleaning a firearm

Same here. IMO, you can't clean a firearm if it's loaded. How are you going to clean the barrel and chamber (or cylinder in a revolver)?

I think many are intentionally misreported suicides though. A cleaning accident will get your life insurance payout, suicides won't.

Chris

 

[effengee]

I didn't think of that...

The Almighty dollar rules over common sense everytime!!!

jim