Firearms injuries are not accidents …

Outdoors in Alaska, by Howard Delo

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article telling how a 12-year-old had "accidentally" shot a 3-year-old while handling a firearm. About a week ago, I heard how a recent graduate of Nenana High School had been "accidentally" shot in the shoulder by a friend handling a firearm.

The hunting season is almost here and most Valley hunters use firearms in the pursuit of their quarry, whether it is waterfowl, moose, snowshoe hares or grouse. However, most firearms "accidents" occur around the home. Maybe it's time to think about safe handling of those firearms to prevent any future firearms "accidents."

A responsible firearms owner is aware of and practices the Ten Commandments of Firearms Safety. A responsible parent has already begun teaching their children about safety around firearms. If you own a firearm or are thinking of buying one, but are not familiar with handling it, what should you do?

Enroll in a firearms training class. If your interest lies in personal defense, enroll in one of the concealed carry permit classes. In addition to the information on concealed carry, you will receive instruction in the safe and proper handling of your personal defense firearm.

If your interest lies in hunting with firearms, enroll in a hunter education class. A major portion of either the basic or the muzzleloading classes is safe firearms handling and operation.

If you always, and I mean always, point the muzzle of your firearm in a safe direction and always treat every firearm as if it were loaded and always keep your finger off the trigger until you are actually ready to fire the gun and always know exactly what you are shooting at and what is beyond your intended target, you will never have an injury "accident" with a firearm.

How can I say that? If you always control the muzzle of your firearm so that it never points at anything you do not intend to shoot, then you will never shoot anything you did not mean to, so there is no accident.

I've had more than 50 years of experience handling firearms, and I have never had a firearm accident. Have I ever had the gun fire when I wasn't expecting it? Yes. However, because the muzzle was pointed in a safe direction, no one was injured or killed. You can have "accidental discharges" because safeties malfunction and fingers slip but no one will be hurt if the muzzle is always pointed in a safe direction.

For years, I have challenged every hunter education class I have taught to show me how an injury accident with a firearm can happen. Nobody has yet succeeded. Usually ignorance or negligence in handling the firearm is the cause of the injury. These causes are not accidents. If you think you can change my mind, let me know.

This column marks the one-year anniversary of my writing an outdoor-oriented column in the Frontiersman. I would like to thank Eowyn LeMay Ivey and Frank Ameduri for giving me an opportunity to try my hand at this writing thing, and my wife, Debby, for letting me tell personal stories that were either humorous or used to illustrate a point.

I also want to thank the readers of this newspaper for the words of encouragement. Some of you have offered information, and a few of you have politely, but passionately disagreed with either what I said or how I may have said it. That's the way it is supposed to be, as long as we keep our disagreements civil.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist living in Big Lake. Send your comments and ideas to editor@frontiersman.com, or call (907) 352-2268 and leave a message for Howard.