Aug 24, 2024 5 min read

By Dave Bates

For the Observer-Reporter

Fall is when guns are universally uncased. A round of trap or skeet or sporting clays is called for by the shooting doctor in preparation of the upcoming bird season. Detailed conscious riflemen begin their preparations for the fall and zero weapons not fired since last deer season, if at all. Every so often we need a gentle reminder that gun handling skills are perishable and must constantly be maintained if not to be lost. Thus, I am putting it out there that we all are in need of a brush up on basic firearms handling basics. “Oh no!” groans the old salt. ates is at it again with his push for safety come hunting season.

You are correct. And with good reason.

You see, Saturday mornings throughout the spring and summer, while you are mowing your lawn and cleaning gutters, I am on the range with new shooters, concreting the foundations of safe handling, safe shooting and safe firearms culture. Safety is not coincidental. It is taught. Instructed. Required from an early age. And demanded by those who would participate.

I know what you’re thinking. We get it. Maybe you do and maybe you don’t. But I can tell you this much … Not everybody gets it nor do they “get it” well enough. For this reason, I am going to start from the top, one more time.

I don’t mean to sound condescending by using this word, but oftentimes folks are simply ignorant to proper gun safety. What is thought to be common sense is not so common with those around us. I’ll begin with the four rules of firearms safety, in the order I introduce them to my students. I have students raise fingers to accompany their learned rules as it gives a mnemonic learning device in which to commit the rules to memory.

Rule No. 1: (Raise your index finger.) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you are ready to shoot.

Rule No. 2: (Make the peace sign and point to your eyes.) Watch where you are pointing your muzzle. Never point your weapon at anything you are not willing to destroy. Think cutting lazer extending from the muzzle.

Rule No. 3: (Make the O.K. sign and point finger tips towards the ground. This makes a series of “As.”) All guns are always loaded. Always! Treat every firearm as though it is loaded because it may very well be.

Many injuries and deaths occur with supposedly “unloaded weapons.” “I didn’t know it was loaded” are usually the first words following a negligent discharge of a weapon accompanied by an incredible look of mixed shock and horror. It is too late for sorry.

Rule No. 4: (Hold four fingers to the sky and throw the fingers forward and downwards. This represents what is down range. Know your target and what lies beyond.

I have taught hunter safety for almost four decades. I am a police officer. I have been a firearms instructor for the last decade. And I have been instructed in safe handling of firearms since I was five years old. I’m not trying to sound like a bossy know-it-all. I am simply trying to guard against negligence. I have seen incredibly intelligent people do incredibly dumb (see ignorant) things because they either thought they knew or had never been properly instructed. The word ignorance means never having been taught, instructed or exposed to. Most folks fall into the category of ignorance. We think we know more than we actually do. We possess a false sense of security or confidence because we have been “exposed” to some element.

I love babies. I have seen babies delivered. I have a friend who is a gynecologist who delivers babies. Yet, would you choose ole Bates for your amateur gynecologist when the big day arrives? Ignorance is a dangerous thing. Choose not to remain ignorant. Get some safety training.

I will share a few of the myths I frequently hear bantered about which I will dispel forthwith:

“I’ve been around guns all my life.” I own a scalpel but that does not make me a surgeon. Just because we have been doing something for a long time does not make us competent. Standing next to or simply holding my scalpel does not make me proficient with it.

“Firearms safety is applied common sense.” Common sense is not all that common. Take a look at driver safety out on the open road and then tell me your opinion of common sense.

“I was in the military.” “I am a police officer.” I can tell you from experience with both that I would trust my life to neither statement. There are good and bad souls afoot in every field. I have trained with Green Berets and likewise with guys who barely qualified in the army basic rifle marksmanship test. Believe me, they are worlds apart both in accuracy, safety and tactics.

As the muzzle sweeps you, the incompetent handler says, “Don’t worry, it’s not loaded.” Quite the opposite. Worry! He is a fool and is playing careless with your life. There is NO viable reason to allow the muzzle of a firearm to cover another human, carelessly.

So what is the boil down this fine August morn? Don’t assume you know more than you really do. Get some training from a qualified professional. I have found it much more beneficial to work with folks who are not intimately known to us, i.e., husband with wife, etc. Practice regularly. Demand this same level of responsibility from anyone that handles weaponry in your presence.

Be safe.

Dave Bates writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at alphaomegashootingsolutions@gmail.com