Posted: 4/22/2009 11:16:25 AM EDT
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With all the firearms being sold, anyone seen indications that gun safety is being pushed by the industry?
This would be a golden oppurtunity to teach Citizens about gun safety and our rights. |
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Other than the little blurb in the instruction manual I haven't seen anything. Sadly the problem with all these new gun owners is the lack of knowledge of guns, particularly in the safety department. When you have a 70 year old who has never thought of owning a gun before in their life go and buy an AR-15 (not a joke, happened at a shop where I picked up my Kimber) they don't have the first clue about gun safety. This holds true for any new gun owner that hadn't grown up with them in their house.
My family never owned guns until I came through the door at 18 with a shotgun but I had learned to shoot in Boy Scouts and proper gun safety had been engrained in my brain. I took my dad shooting for the first time in his life three weeks ago and he just bought a Walther P22. He's looking at getting a Kahr for concealed carry. Scary how abruptly it all changes. He isn't the best with gun safety but that results with me reminding him the rules  .
Hopefully new gun owners will seek out some sort of training, learn the function of their firearms, and learn how to safely use them. |
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I wish they'd have some kind of class that you had to take get your first firearm. I was at the gun store about 40 miles away that actually has nice
weapons: ARs, HKs, Sigs, etc. Well this 40 year old husband and wife are looking at the firearms and the guy behind the counter grabs a glock. He pulls the slide and locks it back with an empty mag in it and hands it to the man. The guy keeps trying to release the slide and asks how do you release the slide. The guy says just leave it back besides if you did release the slide right now you would smash your fingers. And bigger than shit he had his finger sticking where the ejector was. Then he asked what did it shoot and the guy said 40s&w and he says that doesn't tell me anything. The shop guy shows him and he goes ok is there a such thing as a gun lock, I have two kids. And the guy is all like yeah we have trigger locks just don't put it on a loaded gun you'll probably shoot yourself. And I'm thinking hell he will probably shoot himself anyways. Then he goes and buys it. |
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Remember the story Bama Shooter had a thread about? In a city in Georgia, the local PD was putting on free clinics for the public. I wrote a short not to my local PD about it, but the response I got said budget and staffing issues make it impossible. That's what I thought they would say.
This kind of outreach is a perfect opportunity for "community policing", and I think it would be a prudent use of some public-safety targeted federal funds. Short of that, point-of-sale instruction, or strong encouragement to seek out good instruction, is about all you can do. Private clubs might be a good way to do it, but a lot of private clubs might not want to risk taking on the liability. Remember, the manufacturers DO put safety guidelines in every manual, should a new owner care to read them. 
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Quoted:
Remember the story Bama Shooter had a thread about? In a city in Georgia, the local PD was putting on free clinics for the public. I wrote a short not to my local PD about it, but the response I got said budget and staffing issues make it impossible. That's what I thought they would say. This kind of outreach is a perfect opportunity for "community policing", and I think it would be a prudent use of some public-safety targeted federal funds. Short of that, point-of-sale instruction, or strong encouragement to seek out good instruction, is about all you can do. Private clubs might be a good way to do it, but a lot of private clubs might not want to risk taking on the liability. Remember, the manufacturers DO put safety guidelines in every manual, should a new owner care to read them. Money should not be a concern, local shooters who are trained in firearms safety (and there are a shit load in my area) should volunteer for this. Why would liability be a factor? This is no different than a good samaritin act, where a person who tries to save the life of another citizen can not be held responsible if he fks up while trying to save a life. I am not formally trained and have several bad habits, otherwise I would volunteer. |
