Safe firearms handling

We have all read or heard reports of so-called “accidental shootings.” Some real-life examples I have seen would include an article telling how a 12-year-old had “accidentally” shot a 3-year-old while handling a firearm. Another example tells of how a recent Alaska high school graduate had been “accidentally” shot in the shoulder by a friend handling a firearm.

The hunting season is currently happening, and most Valley hunters use firearms in the pursuit of their quarry, whether it is waterfowl, moose, caribou, snowshoe hares, or grouse. However, most firearms “accidents” occur, not in the field while hunting, but 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 instructing 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. All the shooting ranges in the Valley and those in the Anchorage area hold basic firearms training classes as well as other topic specific classes too. 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 hunter education 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 over 60 years of experience handling firearms, and I have never had a firearm “accident.” Have I ever had a gun discharge 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.

I was deer hunting with my dad in Georgia one fall. As we were preparing to leave, my dad was unloading the cartridges from the tubular magazine of his level action rifle. His thumb slipped off the hammer and the rifle discharged. He had the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. I had something similar happen with a semiauto rimfire rifle once.

For years, I have challenged every hunter education class I have taught to tell me how an injury “accident” with a firearm can happen without one or more of the safe gun handling commandments being violated. Nobody has succeeded yet. 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.

I do know of one firearms accident which was determined, upon investigation by professional wildlife enforcement officers, to be a legitimate accident. I was reading a book written by four retired wildlife enforcement officers from four different states containing real-life stories about accidents and violations they had individually investigated during their active-duty service.

This “real accident” involved one hunter shooting a deer with his partner standing off to the side and well out of the “zone of fire.” The deer was hit and killed but the bullet deflected inside the animal and exited in the direction of the other hunter, ultimately striking him, and causing injury. The investigating officer declared the bullet deflection to be a “freak accident.” The officer said if he had been the shooter in this scenario, he would have taken the shot because the angles were such that the bullet deflection couldn’t have been anticipated. In short, it was a safe shot to take. No charges were filed.