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Gun Safety, Storage
(For discussions on politics concerning firearms and gun safety, see Gun politics. This page deals only with non-political aspects of gun safety. For a part of a gun that is called a "safety", see Safety (firearms).) more...
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Gun safety is a collection of rules and recommendations that can be applied when handling firearms. The purpose of gun safety is to eliminate or minimize the risks of unintentional damage, injury and/or death caused by improper handling of firearms.
Gun safety rules and mindset
Gun safety training seeks to instill a certain mindset and appropriate habits, or rules. The mindset is that firearms are inherently dangerous and must always be handled with care. Handlers are taught to treat firearms with respect for their destructive capabilities, and strongly discouraged from playing or toying with firearms, a common cause of accidents.
The rules of gun safety follow from this mindset. While there are many variations, the rules introduced by Colonel Jeff Cooper are those most commonly taught during gun safety training:
The NRA provides a similar set of rules:
Treat firearms as if they are loaded
This rule is a matter of proper mindset rather than a specific habit. Many firearm accidents result from the handler believing a firearm is emptied, safetied, or otherwise disabled when in fact it is ready to fire. Such misunderstandings can arise from a number of sources.
Faulty handling of the firearm. A handler may execute the steps of procedures such as loading, firing and emptying in the wrong order or omit steps of the procedures.;
Misunderstandings about a firearm's status. For instance: A handler may think the safety is on when it is not. A round of ammunition may be in the chamber or in the magazine while the handler thinks it is empty. A handler may receive a firearm and assume it is in a certain state without checking whether that assumption is true.;
Mechanical failures. Wear, faulty assembly, damage or faulty design of the firearm can cause it not to function as intended. For instance: A safety may have been worn down to a point where it is no longer functioning. Broken parts may have given the firearm a "hair trigger" (a very sensitive trigger). A dented or bent body of the firearm may cause jams or premature discharge of ammunition. Sensitivity to impact may cause a firearm to discharge if dropped or struck against another object.;
If a handler always treats firearms as capable of being fired at any time, the handler is more likely to take precautions to prevent an unintentional discharge and to avoid damage or injury if one does occur.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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