I have many gun safety "pet peeves", too many to list. After all they took a lifetime to learn...

There are people who have approached me wanting to learn to shoot or hunt. After all the preliminary talk about everything except "The Gun", we finally get to that point.

I have enough representative examples to give anyone a good idea of what they are dealing with. I will take out a firearm, check it and explain the operation, never once shouldering it or aiming at anything. The first thing I do is show them and demonstrate how to make sure it is unloaded. I then ask if they would like to hold it. Of course they would, that's why they are here, but I still ask. I tell them to hold onto it and handle it with authority (which means don't drop my dang gun).

Invariably, they will take hold of it like it's a snake coiled to strike. I ask them to check the weapon (I call it a weapon at that point). The muzzle starts wiggling a little as they try to remember which button opens it up. I say "watch the muzzle" (reminding them of prior learning, or teaching anyway)... and that's the pet peeve. The hardest thing to over come is the brainwashing that has occurred in that they think guns are bad and that it can just go off at any second wiping out entire schoolyards. When the greater majority of people were taught gun safety early on in their lives they developed a healthy respect for firearms. A healthy respect as opposed to an irrational fear.

Then there's the guy who waits 60 years and decides he wants to get a pistol for self defense...... Blah, blah, blah.. finally get around to looking at the pistols. Have you ever held of shot a pistol before? Yes, once at my uncle's cousin's house on 4th of July... Okay, that doesn't count.... This is a blah, blah, and this is how you check to see if it's unloaded. They will take the handgun and hold it sideways in their hands looking at the side of it.... No, I said, check it. You just checked it. Oh, you trust me? What's the password to your bank account? Right, that's what I thought... Check it. How? Right watch one more time.. and then don't point it at the house, the TV, your leg, your fingers, down the street, or any of the other places you've been pointing it since I handed it to you. Old people are the worst, because they already know everything. I have actually suggested to some people that they NOT get a gun, simply because they are totally unsafe and likely never will be otherwise.

Soapbox away for the day.

Alan