One in the chamber? Always!
- Thread starter NYshooter
- Start date
KillerFord1977
SAINT
Been discussed on multiple threads on the topic at length. Search function will yield hours of opinions
Annihilator
Emissary
I only carry one bullet and it's in my pocket like my hero Barney Fife “aka" @Annihilator
View attachment 11300
Yeah, there's definitely some good content there.
Bob, there was one or maybe two. I believe they have since reconsidered.
Bassbob
Emissary
I can understand ( I don't do it, but I understand it, especially if there are kids or other considerations) having a pistol in the house somewhere loaded, but on an empty chamber, but not carrying like that.
I also don't get the " Cruiser ready" thing with shotguns. I think people watch too many movies where the cops or the good guys pull out a gun and rack it when they are going for the bad guy. Looks cool on TV. Not so cool when the bogeyman is on top of your ass. Empty chamber equals unloaded gun as far as I'm concerned.
jumpinjoe
Hellcat
I've always kinda' felt like 'what good is it without one in the pipe'? I guess in a real pinch you could throw it at the bad guy, or if you're big enough to hold him down I guess you could beat him with it. I dunno, but I think I'd rather just stand back a safe distance and shoot if I have to. 
I hear ya. I'm working on someone who carries on an empty chamber because of a previous ND.
NYshooter
Operator
Totally Agree!
Bassbob
Emissary
I really just don't get NDs either. Many of my guns have no safety. If I had other people in the house to worry about I may think differently, but it's me and my wife. Neither one of us has a hard time wrapping our heads around " KEEP YOUR EFFING FINGER STRAIGHT AND OUT OF THE TRIGGER GUARD" when handling a firearm.
Well in this case, it was a traumatic event that happened in sight of their family and has lingering effects on the individual.
Bassbob
Emissary
I understand. I'm not gonna harp on the stupidity of it and I suspect the guy feels stupid enough about it as it is. All the more reason for extensive training. Muscle memory is an amazing thing.
Bassbob
Emissary
My brother in law lives across the street in a house I built with his ( and my wife's) father. He's not really a gun guy, but when his son ( who was a gun guy) had his first kid his wife made him get rid of his XD-.45. So my BIL bought it off him. I think he had shot it twice. That includes the time he shot it through his garage wall, into his house and out a front window, across the street and into a neighbor's house while he was " Cleaning" it. Obviously alcohol was involved. I replaced his window pane and his siding and fixed the neighbor's house. I also made him feel like a complete A-hole for a nice long time. After several months I started making him come to the range with me. I cleaned his gun for him the first few times and made sure he understood how to do it. I also beat into his head the 4 rules of gun safety and the fact that cleaning or playing with your gun is not something you should do while drinking. Terry Kath figured that out 1/10th of a second before he blew his brains out.
Sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing.
Bassbob
Emissary
Well, no one was hurt and he learned a valuable lesson. I was really rough on him but hey man, I don't make the rules, I just brutally enforce them.
jumpinjoe
Hellcat
We all should make a concerted effort to instill and enforce gun safety whenever we can. Sometimes simple teaching is required, sometimes something a little more rigorous might be needed.
Back many years ago when the "Hunter Safety" program became a requirement here for young people to go hunting, and many, many young folks were clamoring to get into a class, one of the very first things I would say to a new, first day class was what the safety rules were. I then explained to them why they were so very important, and that with as many folks needing to get into classes as there were, there would be no 2nd warnings.
Over about 16 years we did classes of from 12 (smallest) to as many as 72 (largest). In a short time we realized that those who were sent home for a gun safety infraction during their class, would come back for a second class and they began spreading the word that "Mr. Joe's instructors don't mess around regarding safety". Now it didn't happen often that we had to send someone home without his/her certification, in fact it was pretty rare. But ...............................
We all reinforced the safety aspect of the entire class throughout the entire class, even to the point of having the students wear a 'hunter orange' vest throughout the class. I was amazed at just how careful most of those kids were once they realized just how serious we were about safety. Many of the parents, grandparents, uncles, etc that came with the kids often made comments about how impressed they were at the impact we made on those kids. It was very obvious that our insistence on safety was understood by those kids because we were insistent that it be understood. Had we given them a lackadaisical attitude about safety, that's exactly the attitude they would have left our class with.
Even today, I still occasionally get letters, emails and such from some of those kids (well they're no longer kids) sharing with me some of their hunting experiences. And they almost never fail to mention just how much that 'Hunter Safety' class meant to them way back when. It's still a requirement for kids today to get their hunting license, but now it's an online course for most of it. I hate that and will always feel it's a slight to today's kids who do it online and miss out on the personal, one on one experiences they had with my dedicated instructors. There's just no way that an online course can project the real world seriousness of gun safety as well as a live body who truly cared for those kids, and gave the best they had to teach them.
Back many years ago when the "Hunter Safety" program became a requirement here for young people to go hunting, and many, many young folks were clamoring to get into a class, one of the very first things I would say to a new, first day class was what the safety rules were. I then explained to them why they were so very important, and that with as many folks needing to get into classes as there were, there would be no 2nd warnings.
Over about 16 years we did classes of from 12 (smallest) to as many as 72 (largest). In a short time we realized that those who were sent home for a gun safety infraction during their class, would come back for a second class and they began spreading the word that "Mr. Joe's instructors don't mess around regarding safety". Now it didn't happen often that we had to send someone home without his/her certification, in fact it was pretty rare. But ...............................
We all reinforced the safety aspect of the entire class throughout the entire class, even to the point of having the students wear a 'hunter orange' vest throughout the class. I was amazed at just how careful most of those kids were once they realized just how serious we were about safety. Many of the parents, grandparents, uncles, etc that came with the kids often made comments about how impressed they were at the impact we made on those kids. It was very obvious that our insistence on safety was understood by those kids because we were insistent that it be understood. Had we given them a lackadaisical attitude about safety, that's exactly the attitude they would have left our class with.
Even today, I still occasionally get letters, emails and such from some of those kids (well they're no longer kids) sharing with me some of their hunting experiences. And they almost never fail to mention just how much that 'Hunter Safety' class meant to them way back when. It's still a requirement for kids today to get their hunting license, but now it's an online course for most of it. I hate that and will always feel it's a slight to today's kids who do it online and miss out on the personal, one on one experiences they had with my dedicated instructors. There's just no way that an online course can project the real world seriousness of gun safety as well as a live body who truly cared for those kids, and gave the best they had to teach them.
wmg1299
Professional
I also don't get the " Cruiser ready" thing with shotguns. I think people watch too many movies where the cops or the good guys pull out a gun and rack it when they are going for the bad guy. Looks cool on TV. Not so cool when the bogeyman is on top of your ass. Empty chamber equals unloaded gun as far as I'm concerned.
[/QUOTE]
When I carried a shotgun as a LEO, we were required to carry in cruiser-ready condition. The main reason given at the time was that shotguns are not drop-safe, unlike modern handguns. The other reason was that our shotgun racks did not cover the trigger, and we didn't want a suspect to be able to pull the trigger. The risk for any type of injury, other than hearing loss, was minimal, but the department didn't want to deal with the expensive and time-consuming process of replacing a squadcar roof and lightbar.
[/QUOTE]
When I carried a shotgun as a LEO, we were required to carry in cruiser-ready condition. The main reason given at the time was that shotguns are not drop-safe, unlike modern handguns. The other reason was that our shotgun racks did not cover the trigger, and we didn't want a suspect to be able to pull the trigger. The risk for any type of injury, other than hearing loss, was minimal, but the department didn't want to deal with the expensive and time-consuming process of replacing a squadcar roof and lightbar.
When I carried a shotgun as a LEO, we were required to carry in cruiser-ready condition. The main reason given at the time was that shotguns are not drop-safe, unlike modern handguns. The other reason was that our shotgun racks did not cover the trigger, and we didn't want a suspect to be able to pull the trigger. The risk for any type of injury, other than hearing loss, was minimal, but the department didn't want to deal with the expensive and time-consuming process of replacing a squadcar roof and lightbar.
[/QUOTE]
That makes sense.