Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys. Guns are not toys.
My favorite safety rule...
“Always point the muzzle of the gun in a safe direction.”
You can screw up/neglect practically all other gun safety rules and still not kill someone as long as the gun is pointed in a safe direction.
I recall a weekend long party I held at the farm with my former roommate a few years ago. Sunday morning after breakfast they went down to “the playground” where there were riding trails, a firepit and a nice berm to set up a target range and they were taking turns shooting a 38 revolver.
My roommate’s girlfriend showed up and had never fired a weapon before, and none of those guys were qualified instructors as far as I was concerned... I was seriously not all that amused as they were treating it like a toy and they were all drinking, nursing hangovers from the night before.
At one point someone managed to get the weapon jammed, which I had cleared... but at that point I was just envisioning a bad BAD scene about to go down... I bit my tounge and stayed back.
When the one female finally hit the target (at 10 yards) she started jumping up and down “celebrating” waving the weapon above her head, finger on the trigger. Granted it was not a semiautomatic... but the sheer brainlessness... ignorance... and disrespect was more than I could tolerate. I turned and walked back to the house to clean up after breakfast.
I expected a tragedy... fortunately none happened.
Never again.