position while trying to regain control. It may also happen that the safety or hammer of the piece may contact the fence or some part of the anatomy and be moved. Any of these events can result in an unsafe situation. If it is necessary to pass some obstacle such as a fence, unload the firearm, leave the action open, and hand it to someone on the other side of the fence. If you are alone, place the empty firearm with the action open on the other side of the fence before you cross it. When crossing a stream, unload the firearm, open the action, and cross the stream safely before reloading. Having seen the foot of a hunter slip off a wet stone in the middle of a stream and the hunter go one way and the his rifle another, it can not be overemphasized that it is unsafe to cross a stream with a loaded firearm.
6. Keep every firearm unloaded until you are ready to shoot.
Some of the most unsafe situations involving firearms result from improperly storing and transporting them. Firearm safety requires that an encounter of a person with the firearm begins with an unloaded piece. Someone else in your home or vehicle may have access to the piece in your absence. That person may not know the characteristics of your particular firearm which could lead to accidental discharge if the piece is loaded. Some firearms have actions that can not be opened unless the safety is in the “off” position. If the firearm is loaded, taking the safety off prior to opening the action places it in the ready mode. Therefore, it is imperative that the firearm be unloaded so that the person handling it is not manipulating a firearm that can be discharged immediately and accidentally. An exception to this can be made if the firearm is being used for self defense, but it should be stored so that only the person to whom the firearm belongs has immediate access to it.
7. Transport only unloaded, cased firearms.
In almost every situation, it is unlawful to discharge a firearm from a vehicle on a highway. In the confines of a vehicle, handling a rifle or handgun can cause the muzzle to point at someone else or at your own body parts. It is difficult to keep the muzzle from pointing in a direction that violates rule No. 2 given above. Even if the firearm is cased, removing a loaded firearm from a gun case can be an unsafe practice. It is possible that while transporting the piece the safety may have become disengaged. For firearms having external hammers, the hammer may have become partially or fully cocked. It is all too easy under these conditions to accidentally discharge the firearm. In the state of Wyoming there were four gun related accidents during the 2003 hunting season. Two of them involved loaded firearms in vehicles.
State laws regarding transportation of firearms vary enormously. Some states allow firearms to be transported uncased and loaded while in other states transported firearms must be unloaded and cased. Even within certain states there are great difference. For example, some municipalities forbid the ownership of handguns. Travelers who are transporting a handgun in such areas even when it cased and unloaded may be considered to be in possession of an illegal firearm. In some states, firearms and ammunition cannot be transported in the same case. The point is that there are literally thousands of laws on the books that relate to firearms, their transportation, and their uses. It is your responsibility to know and obey the rules that apply in your locality.
8. Keep all guns stored unloaded and away from unauthorized persons.
We are at a point in time where certain jurisdictions require that all firearms in homes be stored in locked containers or with a trigger lock of some sort in place. The idea behind this is to prevent someone who does not know safe gun handling procedures from picking up a loaded gun and accidentally firing it. Firearms vary enormously in design. The author once handed his single-action revolver to a police officer who was fully qualified for duty with a semiautomatic pistol. The officer had no idea how a single-action revolver worked and thought it was some type of top-break model that had to be opened at the top for loading. Of course there was no lack of concern for keeping the muzzle pointed correctly or other safe handling rules. It was simply a matter of not knowing how the mechanism of a single-action revolver worked. Someone who is unfamiliar with firearms, especially children, may find it all too easy to move some button or knob and place the firearm in a “ready” mode. The tragedy of a child finding a loaded gun, pointing it in the wrong direction, and accidentally discharging the weapon is a scenario that can and does happen. It should not.
Numerous attempts are being made to make it more difficult for anyone other than the primary user of a firearm to operate it. Built in smart locks that use code or a small key that must be inserted are currently being utilized or developed. By incorporating such devices, the chance of someone other than the owner firing the piece when the owner is not around is reduced. Some of the rimfire models with built in locks include the Ruger Mark III and the Walther P22. Regardless of what safety devices are developed, the most effective safety device is a careful, well-trained person who exercises appropriate caution while handling a firearm.
9. Obey all range commands instantly.
Shooters of rimfire rifles and pistols often engage in formal or informal target shooting which may involve training sessions. This may occur at a range or in some other safe area with a suitable backstop. When firing is conducted on a range, it may be under the supervision of a range officer especially if it is a formal match carried out with time limitations. If this is the case, shooters are arranged at stations on the firing line with the firearms lying on a bench or table pointing toward the target area. When the target area is clear, the range officer may call, “Ready on the left? Ready on the right? Ready on the firing line! (pause) Commence firing!” At that point, the shooters are permitted to start firing the course. At the end of the time allowed, the range officer will announce, “Cease fire!” The course of fire is over at that time regardless of whether or not all competitors have fired the number of shots normally included in that course. As firing progresses, the range officer may issue other commands. Regardless of what these commands are or whether or not they involve you, obey all such commands instantly. In basketball, when a whistle sounds the ball is almost always lobbed toward the basket, but no shot is ever to be fired on a shooting range after a command to cease is given. It is entirely possible that the range officer has seen something that none of the shooters on the line has observed. At many clubs, there may be no range officer present, but the shooters follow the same rules. A “cold line” is observed with all weapons having actions open and magazines empty until all shooters are “ready” and the appropriate commands are given to allow the line to become “hot.”
Benchrest shooting, one of the popular forms of target shooting, involves firing the rifle from a heavy bench with the rifle fully supported. The object of this type of shooting is to fire the shots into the smallest group possible although in some cases, firing is for score. All shooters must keep their firearms unloaded and with the actions open until they are actually on the firing line. In rimfire benchrest competition, bolt actions are to have the bolts removed when they are not actually being set up for firing. When any person is downrange from the benches, the rifles are to be removed from the benches and all shooters are to be away from the benches. Rifles that do not have removable bolts are to have a safety device (a safety flag) protruding from the open breech when they are resting on the benches and a person is downrange.
10. Never use a firearm when mental or motor skills are impaired.
It is a crime to operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Some medications can cause the user to become drowsy or sluggish, which are physiological effects that are not unlike those produced by alcohol. Anyone who has received any substance that reduces mental or motor skills should not use a firearm. Crisp mental action and physical motions are required to manipulate a firearm in a safe, efficient manner.
While spending a great deal of time in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, the author and his wife became friends with one of the campground workers and his son, David. One summer, David had a friend, Josh, who came to the mountains to spend a week with
