I attended a side by side sporting clays shoot recently and I observed a number of situations with unsafe gun handling that made me nervous but I chose not to say anything. And I regret that now. So I would like to ask the gentlemen and gentlewomen of this site about their ideas on what is safe gun handling and what to do when safe gun handling procedures are not followed. The following situations have all happened at shoots I have attended:
A squad member has his shotgun broke open over his shoulder with the muzzles pointed behind him as we walk to the next station. Anyone walking behind him is looking right up the muzzle of his shotgun.
A squad member finishes shooting at a station, breaks open his gun and swings it around horizontally, sweeping his entire squad with the muzzle prior to putting the gun up in the rack near the station.
At a 5 stand event, a squad member loads his side by side and tries to close the action. The action doesn't close completely and the shooter struggles to open the action. After a few seconds of struggles, the shooter steps out of the shooting box and swings the loaded gun around as he continues to struggle to open the action while sweeping the shooter in the adjacent station with the muzzle.
At a 5 stand event, I am in squad that is on deck to shoot next. I am watching from behind the third stand. The shooter in the first stand fires his two shots and my eyes are still on him, when a shot is fired by the shooter in the second stand. The shot struck the ground about five yards in front of the second stand. I don't know if the gun fired upon closure or if the elderly shooter had his finger on the trigger early. The second shooter opens his gun, reloads and continues on as if nothing happened.
In all the above situations, I looked around to see if someone was going to say something. Nobody else even acted as if they had observed the problem or were nervous about it. AFter seeing everyone's lack of reaction I chose to remain silent.
As a former USPSA shooter and range officer, any of the above situations would not be tolerated. In fact, in each of the situations the shooter would be stopped and ejected from that day's shoot. Sweeping anybody with the muzzle of your firearm is not tolerated. Accidental discharges are not tolerated. Why do shotgun shooters choose to look the other way?
