(+11 rating, 13 votes)
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I stopped at my local gun store recently to check what they had in inventory. There was a newly released pistol underneath the glass; the guy behind the counter asked if I wanted to handle it. I said yes, so he bent down and retrieved it. He locked the slide to the rear and then offered the grip to me with the pistol pointing directly at his sternum. I’m not sure when this technique became acceptable, but I see it often. In addition to the employee violating rule #2, it mandates that you do likewise long enough to acquire a grip on the gun in question.
I grasped the pistol and immediately tilted the muzzle downward, where I kept it until I finished handling it (In retrospect, I should have told him to set it on the counter with the muzzle in a safe direction). I locked the slide to the rear and rotated the grip laterally so he could also keep the muzzle safely earthward as he recovered it. Determined to win, he turned the gun sideways, dropped the slide, and pressed the trigger with the gun pointed at me. He then placed the fingers and thumb of his non-firing hand in front of the muzzle, like he was massaging it. I chose to leave at that point.
You should be able to go to gun stores without having guns pointed at you. This type of muzzle “discipline” is unacceptable.
As I approached the exit, a young man passed me carrying a modern sporting rifle at a relaxed muzzle up “port arms.” The muzzle flagged my face to the point that I could see the blue calcium carbonate fouling inside the flash hider as he walked by. I left the store in a very poor mood.
Competency
Maybe the kid with the AR-15 had never received any firearms safety training—that’s probable in modern America. I assumed the employee would display competent gun handling because his livelihood depended on safe firearms transactions. His shenanigans lent credence to the saying that “familiarity breeds contempt” regarding the four cardinal safety rules.
- All guns are always loaded.
- Never let your muzzle cover anything you’re not willing to destroy.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target.
- Be sure of your target.
There is no good reason to do this if you work in a gun store. There is no good reason to do this, period.
Expectations
It’s reasonable to expect law enforcement personnel to abide by these rules religiously. Every police academy I’m aware of considers them to be doctrine, as do federal entities like FLETC and DOE’s Central Training Academy. The same goes for Thunder Ranch, Gunsite (where the rules were born), and other quality private training facilities. I have never heard either Jeff Cooper or Clint Smith say that they had reached the point where these rules no longer applied to them.
Having students point guns at each other while practicing clearing stoppages is dangerous and negligent.
If you’re an instructor and you make students point live guns at each other in training, Stop!
This method of handing guns to customers in gun stores is unsafe and needs to stop.
Today, with the wealth of marking cartridge options like SIMS available, there’s no reason for this sort of reckless behavior. We have all read too many reports about police cadets and civilians needlessly shot and killed while attending negligent or indefensible training. If what you are doing in training violates any of the four rules, Don’t Do It!
Tapping the muzzle of your firearm into your teammate’s back to let him know you’re ready is completely unsatisfactory. His body armor is not a “safe backstop.”
Stress, Confidence?
There are much safer ways to “create stress” than having students point guns at each other while they’re practicing malfunction clearances. There is absolutely no justification for having students fire live rounds past each other to “build confidence.” SWAT officers muzzling the backs of team members in front of them as a squeeze-up technique (because they’re all wearing body armor) is one I wouldn’t have believed – until I witnessed it.
If you’re attending firearms training and any part of the curriculum involves violating the foundational safety rules with live guns, pack up your gear and leave. These safety rules are not training wheels for basic-level shooters that can be cast aside when they become “high-speed.” The truly high-speed guys and gals have the rules deeply ingrained and apply them with automaticity during both training and live operations.
Allowing students to be downrange because they are in a “shooting lane” is a tragedy waiting to happen. That line on the ground won’t stop bullets.
Final Thought
Treat the four rules like commandments and demand the same from your peers- not just at the range and in high-risk situations, but every time you touch a firearm. As a police officer, you’re considered a professional gun handler by society, and these rules are non-negotiable. The residents in your jurisdiction deserve that level of professionalism from you- and are right to expect it.
Live up to their expectations!
Note: Nonfiring replicas were used in these photographs because the actions being portrayed are dangerous firearms practices.
