Don’t Be an idiot: The four rules to all firearms.

Rule 1: Treat Every Gun Like It’s Loaded.

My father kept his shotgun in the closet behind some heavy coats. After hearing the stories of children hurting themselves, he bought a safe. It took me two tries to figure out the code, but I knew better than to touch the gun. I would hear my mother’s words echo in my mind “Never touch it; no one needs to know that it’s there”.  I eventually forgot about it. 

A few years later, he built his own AR-15. He took me with him to shoot it for the first time. I remember him carefully unloading it from its bag and placing it on the table, barrel pointed down range. He loaded the magazine, popped it in, and pulled back the charging handle. He stepped away and let me shoot. For the years following, I didn’t touch a firearm, I didn’t learn anything new, and I stayed away from the shotgun. 

In my third year of college, I was struggling to find a job. I decided to try my luck at a local gun shop. I don’t know if I was desperate, or they were, but a couple of weeks after my interview, I was walking in for my first day. I made it clear that I had no experience, and they were okay with that because they could teach me (it also helped that I was a woman). Before the shop opened, the manager pulled a gun off the rental wall and told me the first rule of gun safety: Treat every gun like it’s loaded. 

After a while, I was more independent. I could check people in by myself, and safely handle a firearm. That’s the only thing we truly care about: your ability to safely handle a gun. During private lessons, LTC exams, or a casual time on the range, we don’t judge based on the holes in your target, but by the way you handled your weapon.

I was watching my co-worker check in a first-time shooter and her husband. She was nervous and had never touched a gun before. My coworker handed her a .22, one of the smallest calibers with the smallest recoil. She didn’t know what to do with it, so she started aiming it in all directions; my coworker, her husband, and me. We call that flagging.

“It’s not like it’s loaded!” She said as her husband attempted to grab the gun from her. Technically, she was right. My coworker had cleared the gun like we all do, but it didn’t matter.

Whether it’s in a safe, on a range, or even cleared, treat every gun like it’s loaded. 

Rule 2: Never Point a Gun at Something You’re Not Willing to Destroy.

Destroy (1): Put an end to the existence of (something) by damaging or attacking it. (2): Ruin (Someone) emotionally or spiritually.

During the exam for my LTC, they showed us a video of a shooting that happened at a church. One of the congregation members brought down the shooter with a single bullet, but this wasn’t before the shooter shot and killed two other people. Three people died that day, but dozens of others were affected. The churchgoers, parents, siblings, and children of the victims and the shooter were destroyed and ruined.

The instructor for the LTC exam told us that firearms are classified as deadly weapons. 

Deadly Weapon: A deadly weapon, sometimes ‘dangerous weapon’ or ‘lethal weapon’, is an item that can inflict mortal or great bodily harm. 

“The definition does not specify if that is when the gun is loaded or unloaded. So, we presume that a gun is a deadly weapon all the time,” he says. People too often forget that. 

When I was first introduced to the trend of men pointing a loaded piston at their crotches and playing with the trigger, I thought there couldn’t possibly be anything more foolish. In a trigger pull, there is something we call the “wall”. That is the point in the pull where the trigger begins to push back a little bit. The point of no return. Think of it as the gun asking you “Are you sure?”. These men would pull the trigger to the wall, but then release it. Unfortunately, some of these men ventured past the wall. There are videos of men blowing off their private parts for the sake of a trend. That’s what happens when you forget that your new toy is a deadly weapon.

In a controlled environment, learning to shoot is a fun activity. Guns are a teaching tool that leads to a skillset and for some a lifestyle. To borrow from the overused but still very true statement from Uncle Ben in Spiderman “With great power comes great responsibility”. The moment you point the barrel at something other than a range target is the same moment that a fun day at the range can turn into a tragedy. Almost daily, I hear the RSOs talking about how people would casually turn around, gun still in hand. What’s worse is that their finger would still be wrapped around the trigger (more on that in rule 3). The people on the range are not the only ones who can be destroyed due to the carelessness of others. 
Don’t be irresponsible and never point a gun at something you’re not willing to destroy.

Rule 3: Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger Until You’re Ready to Shoot. 

When walking onto the range, you might question the interesting dents in the table and shredded ceiling. Some people underestimate the recoil and lift of the gun, and in their excitement, shoot the ceiling. They might have dropped their gun to try and get a better look at their target and squeezed the trigger just enough to shoot the table. All the small divots and dents around the range are from people keeping their finger on the trigger when they shouldn’t have been. 

During a private lesson, a coworker told me something that has stuck with me: “If the person behind the gun is someone I trust, I’d be more ok with a loaded gun being pointed at me with the person’s finger on the trigger. It’s about discipline.” 

Discipline (1): The practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.

In a way, he’s not wrong. Obviously, no one wants to be in a position where a loaded gun is pointed at them (see rule 2), and he wasn’t welcoming it in any way, but I understood what he was saying: know your gun. Know where your wall is, know the point of no return, and know the consequences of your carelessness. You have to practice discipline and control; if you never learn these things, you are just as foolish as the men blowing off their private parts (see rule 2 if you missed that).

Anyone who has their hands on a gun should exercise discipline no matter how experienced they are. The rules of the range encourage a certain behavior. When there is behavior on the range that compromises the safety of others, that’s when punishment comes into play. The punishment might be a simple warning or removal of someone off the range, or it might be a hospital bill. Hospital bills usually come with lawsuits; so, keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.

Rule 4: Know What Your Target is and What is Beyond it.

On a range, your target is usually a piece of paper. Other shooters typically have enough sense to not run down-range without the call of a cease-fire, so there will be nothing beyond your target. However, in the chaos of people panicking, running, and screaming, are you sure there is not a child behind your target? Are you confident in your ability to land the shot exactly where it needs to be? What rounds are in your chamber? Are they defense rounds? Range rounds? Is someone about to run in front of your target? Hopefully, you never find yourself in a situation where you will need to answer those questions in a matter of seconds. 

In all situations: know what your target is and what is beyond it.

A gun range is a place where you will be encouraged to learn and be better. It houses some of the friendliest people you will ever meet and a culture that is fascinating to learn. A mutual upholding of these rules renders respect, which must be earned. That respect can disappear and the friendliest people turn on you the second you compromise the safety of the other patrons in the store.

Safety: The condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury.

Safety is the single most important thing on a live range. It was preached from my first day of work to my last. It will forever and always be in every briefing we give, even if the person has been on our range countless times.

Range rules have been around for a long time, and every rule is most likely the result of an accident. Someone caused a danger, ran a risk, or was the reason for an injury. Each range will have different rules, but you will find these four are almost universal. They are not to inhibit your fun or enjoyment on the range, but instead preserve the culture and practice of safe shooting. 

If it is your first time on the range, and you have no idea what to do - start here.

1: Treat every gun like it’s loaded. 

2: Never point a gun at something you’re not willing to destroy. 

3: Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. 

4: Know what your target is and what is beyond it. 

These four rules can be wrapped up into one simple request: don’t be an idiot.