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There is No Such Thing as an Unloaded Gun
Recently the news spoke of a little child searching through her grandmother’s purse for candy. Ordinary this would be an “awwwwwwww…” moment, reminding of us how our grandmothers spoiled us over the protests of our parents.
Instead of candy, the child found her mee-maw’s pistol. It discharged. The child is dead.
Many questions follow: since the grandmother carried a firearm, why did she violate every teaching on gun safety? And further, why did she feel the need to carry a firearm at all? Was she afraid of other women?
No, almost surely she was afraid of males (one cannot call them men) who violate every teaching of scripture and civilization in menacing women.
We can all do better.
My old daddy (he visited France, Belgium, and Germany 1944-1945) taught that the first rule of gun safety is that there is no such thing as an unloaded gun. And then a series of Navy and Marine Corps instructors taught me the same.
Now of course a gun sometimes is loaded; otherwise, there would be no Bambi for supper. But when there is no Bambi about, unload the gun. Then fear that it is loaded.
In Viet-Nam one of the most common causes of GSW (gun shot wounds) was the mishandling of weapons. Although every Marine and sailor was taught / coached / urged / re-taught firearms safety, after a few months of carrying and cleaning firearms daily, many of the lads became careless.
We didn’t need the VC; Yankee-Doodle carelessness killed a lot of the lads.
The teaching that there is no such thing as an unloaded gun is a psychological truth necessary for our survival. Even the sharpest of us misplace our car keys, forget hair appointments, and fail to notice that the date on the inspection sticker has expired. No one is perfect.
When transporting a gun, unload it, and then fear that it is loaded.
When crossing a fence, unload the gun, and then fear that it is loaded.
When storing a gun, unload it, and then fear that it is loaded.
When climbing the Bambi-stand, unload the gun, and then fear that it is loaded.
Fit a lock to the trigger of a gun, and then fear that it might fire anyway – because it can.
A six-shooter is a five-shooter, no matter how much the manufacturer brags about the safety features. Never, never, never, never, never leave the hammer resting on all those clever safety gates, because beneath all that gim-crackery is a bullet that can kill.
Never, never, never, never, never leave a round up the spout of a semi-auto, no matter how often John Wayne did it. You ain’t John Wayne. Heck, not even John Wayne was John Wayne. Marion Michael Morrison was a cinema actor, okay? He never made the first day of military or police training.
Respect the firearm, because the firearm doesn’t give a rat’s rear end about you.
There is no such thing as an unloaded gun.
There is no such thing as an unloaded gun.
There is no such thing as an unloaded gun.
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