• infinitevalence@discuss.online
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    4 months ago

    FFS I can watch you clear a firearm and the first thing I will do is clear it when handed to me or I pick it up at the range.

    Always assume it’s loaded. It’s not hard.

          • BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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            4 months ago

            See they would be stupider, but I’m not sure they’d gain any level of awareness.

            In the social media age it seems like everyone’s opinion seems just as valid, so there’s no reality check on how dumb you actually are.

            It’s like how you think you can fight, then go to an MMA gym and get man handled and then come to realization you can’t fight at all.

        • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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          4 months ago

          I’m a pretty smart guy, but I’m always second guessing myself and feeling stupid. How do we transfer that feeling to real idiots?

    • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      I’m not a gun person so maybe I was just fooled by a video. I also probably don’t use the right terms so forgive me.

      But it was awhile back; one video I saw of a guy showing how he was clearing the chamber of a pistol. Pulled it back from a full clip and counted each one. He counted 8 (which was expected for the size). Kept clearing it while nothing came out. Asked the viewer “Clear? Nope. Did you notice what’s wrong”?

      Pulls the gun back to show the bullet still visually in the chamber.

      Apparently it was a pistol with a recall or common issue of not correctly clearing the last round. He had an additional bullet chambered at the start so he counted the clip size but the pistol had 9 rounds initially with one still completely capable of firing at the end.

      Like, he literally pulled it back and cleared it like 20 additional times. Bullet still just sitting there at the end.

      Will try to find the video.

      • Gerudo@lemmy.zip
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        4 months ago

        Yeah, it sounds like a malfunction. It should clear by racking the slide until nothing comes out, but ALWAYS verify by checking the chamber.

      • poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org
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        4 months ago

        A faulty extractor would easily cause this issue. That’s why you also have to visibly inspect the chamber. A round would be easily visible while the slide is back.

        ALWAYS treat every gun as if it is loaded

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Yep yep. I will only trust that the chamber of a gun is empty if I can shine a light down the front, and see it from the back. Even then, damn bullet goblins can pop a bullet in there in the blink of an eye, so you still want it pointed away from anything that can feel pain

    • socsa@piefed.social
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      4 months ago

      I have watched a fat dude with a beard turn a ping pong ball into an orange using nothing but a solo cup and a quick wit. I do not trust, I only verify.

    • rbos@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      I heard it stated as “always assume it’s in the least desirable state”. Unloaded can be dangerous too, like if you need it to be loaded. But that is an edge case.

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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    4 months ago

    Every gun you see is always loaded.

    This is clearly a lie, but is a useful lie that if you live by will make yourself as well as others safer around guns.

    • Bubs@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      Better way to word it is: “Treat every gun as if it is loaded”

        • sem@piefed.blahaj.zone
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          4 months ago

          There is a fallacy named after this.

          If you treat loaded and unloaded guns with the same safety, you don’t have to lie.

            • sem@piefed.blahaj.zone
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              4 months ago

              The slippery slope fallacy. Just because you just checked and know that the gun is unloaded doesn’t inextricably lead to danger if you always treat a gun as if it were loaded.

              You don’t have to lie to yourself or others that the gun is loaded if it is not, just always treat it as if it is.

              The only thing you do by lying is give people reason not to trust you.

                • sem@piefed.blahaj.zone
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                  4 months ago

                  I know the fallacy fallacy. It doesn’t apply in this case because you really were making a slippery slope argument with no evidence, and despite my counterarguments. But I don’t have more time to spend on ashitpost lol

      • X@piefed.world
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        4 months ago

        Followed with:

        1. Never aim your weapon at anything you do not intend to destroy.

        2. Keep your trigger finger straight and along the receiver until you intend to fire your weapon.

        3. Keep your weapon on safe until ready to fire.

        4. Be aware of your target, your surroundings, and what lies beyond your target.

  • Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    You know how old I was when I learned the most important rule of firearms? Five.

    I learned it from watching an anime called Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.

    The rule is “the weapon is always loaded, treat it as such”.

    When a fucking anime from the 80s has better firearms safety than a boatload of CERTAIN people, something is horrifyingly wrong.

  • HollowNaught@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I don’t get America, a place where you can walk around with a weapon that has no purpose other than to cause harm

    Edit: fair few people here going “Yeah, people who don’t treat guns correctly are so dangerous!” meanwhile they don’t realise they’re part of the problem. Any country where you can carry around a gun without repercussions is a country I don’t want to be in

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Some context here: this is almost certainly a gun store, and this is going to be from the check-in station for when people come to jlhave their guns worked on, a holster fitted, or for gun sales.

      I used to work an a major outdoors store and we’d have dozens of customer-owned guns come in a day, and we’d find a round in the chamber a few times a year, and we have them hell over it every time. We also had jar of shame like this one.

      The worst that I experienced was when I was mounting a scope on a 300 Win Mag. The rifle was checked in up front, made it through 2 salesmen who helped them select a scope, and then to me for the mounting.

      I had the customer shoulder the gun so I could find their eye position, got the appropriate mounts, and took the gun to the back and spent some time.mounting everything.

      When everything was mounted properly, the optic zeroed with the bore scope (good enough to hit paper at 100 yards), and the gun ready to go I worked the action to check clearance on the bolt and a nickel-plated round was ejected. The guy at the gun check-in had seen the color of the jacket and assumed it was the magazine follower (they’re supposed to che k more thoroughly, and the next 3 of us in line did the same quick visual check and were fooled by the silver color.

      My asshole was puckered for a week, and when I reported the incident to the firearm department manager he threw a shifting at everyone involved (including the customer), but let me off easy since I reported the incident and he could see how shaken I was.

      But it also was a great demonstration of the importance of the rules of gun safety. Even though we all “knew” the gun was unloaded, there wasn’t any real danger since we all still treated it like it was loaded at all times.

      Safety requires multiple layers. With the 4 rules (treat all guns as if they are loaded, do not point the gun at anything you aren’t willing to kill or destroy, be aware of your target and what’s behind your target, and keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire), you can screw up on any 3 of the rules without anyone being injured.

      • unphazed@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I have a few firearms. All are unloaded. Every damn time I touch a gun I eject the magazine, and check the chamber. Alllllways assume a gun is loaded. I even check again before packing shit away just to ensure the habit. Now magazines? Those fuckers stay loaded. Same for the reloaders.

    • BanMe@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      You see, we might just need to cause death at any moment, one never knows, there’s too much life around all the time. Someone’s gotta keep that in check.

    • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      I have a neighbor who appears to be schitzophrenic. He seems to think I hacked his wifi for some reason. He’s threatened me in the parking lot, assaulted another resident, and I have a video of him standing outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night, pointing at it, and swinging a baseball bat. I bought a gun. I carry it when I go to my car or the mailbox or do laundry. Because the cops didn’t do shit and I am not going to get murdered by this motherfucker.

      • Machinist@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I’ve actually drawn once in a defensive situation. Juvenile mountain lion was curious. I was growling and hissing at it but it kept coming so I drew. It finally turned and I didn’t have to try and kill it.

        Peak life experience. I was really lucky to get see one and I’m so glad I didn’t have to shoot it.

        • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          That’s the other thing Europeans don’t understand. They drove all their alpha predators extinct centuries ago.

    • MummysLittleBloodSlut@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      It’s for killing MAGA. Washington and his friends were worried people would try to create tyranny, so they made sure Americans all had guns to kill the people who do that.

          • HeuristicAlgorithm9@feddit.uk
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            4 months ago

            Idk if the other guy is right, but it’s not like they would add “to hunt down slaves” instead. So they might have put that to get the whole thing added on.

            • MummysLittleBloodSlut@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              4 months ago

              Right, but if the only way the slavers could get it in was to say it’s for rebelling against tyranny, then it seems like rebelling against tyranny was the important concern.

              Also I’ve read the declaration of secession by the confederate states and it was really explicit about slavery being the point. I think they would say it’s for slavery if they thought they could get away with it

            • frog_brawler@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              It’s wrong… kinda close, but wrong (not slaves - different non-white people). Wondering if a correction gets made.

  • RedC@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    Its easier to paint all gun owners as reckless at best, criminals at worst, when you have dumbasses like this walking around. Truth is, the vast majority of american gun owners I’ve met have been strict followers of the 4 rules. If I ever meet someone who isn’t, they immediately become strangers after I leave the situation. Ill try to correct behavior, but not everyone is receptive. Thats where common sense gun laws would be great to have, like proving competency with a firearm and the safety rules especially, every year if you want a ccw. Unfortunately, the ccw in my state is an online course with 10 questions at the end, and fees and a waiting list to get your physical card. I could (and did, but did not carry until confident with my setup) get this ccw without ever having fired the gun I intend to carry, much less handled it safely.

    Also, for people less familiar, if you are ever handed a firearm, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CLEAR IT YOURSELF. Just because someone clears it in front of you, does not make it clear. I dont care if the person field strips it in front of me, the first thing im doing after they hand it to me is clearing it myself.

    Gun owners reading maybe? Please be more reponsible/safe with your firearms. Be as safe as you think you should, then be a little safer. There’s countless little things to work on, like not breaching the fire line or responsible clearing before leave line. We all take a huge responsibility when we decide to carry concealed. You have to delete your ego, you can’t be short fused. There’s no room for prejudice, or stupidity. You alone are responsible for what comes out of your weapon, and if the responsibility is shrugged off, tragic things happen that you have to live with. Don’t mess around, stay sharp.

    Treat EVERY GUN as if its loaded (imagine that rounds can magically appear if you set it down or take eyes off, because they sometimes do!) Keep your finger off the trigger until ready and safe to fire. (Keep your booger hook off the bang switch!) Do not point your firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy (whether youre firing or not, whether its loaded or not) Fully know your target and all things behind it(bullets have a tendency to keep going)

    • Zink@programming.dev
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      4 months ago

      I dont care if the person field strips it in front of me, the first thing im doing after they hand it to me is clearing it myself.

      This kind of attitude is the exact right way to do it when safety is involved. You make it automatic, not a decision. It’s like wearing your seatbelt. It saves you time and energy while producing the best results.

      Put another way: Crazy shit happens every day. You make it automatic not because you distrust the person unloading it in front of you. You do it because you shouldn’t trust yourself to be perfectly flawless in life and death situations. You do it 100% of the times that you rationally know for certain that it’s empty, so that you skip the check 0.00000% of the time that some crazy sequence of events quietly creates a dangerous situation.

    • mika_mika@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I’m honestly very anti-firearms, I live in the USA and while I have met young veterans who take good care of their firearms and exhibit excellent discipline, I have met enough dangerous folk waltzing around toting firearms to flex power at best or to carry out violence at worst, (many different walks of life), that I do not want fire arms in the hands of anyone. The state already has a monopoly on violence, thigh high sock wearing lesbians on lemmy, or people who served and choose to own and carry aren’t really necessary. We’d be better off without them as a whole. And violence isn’t the absolute solution some of my peers would make it out to be.

      • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Having observed the state, I do not trust it with a monopoly on violence. Yes, we might be better off without weapons. When we can guarantee that nazism will never, ever rise again, then we may feel free to disarm ourselves. Until then, that seems unwise. After all, ICE is doing most of their work in cities and states with harsh gun restrictions, where it’s safe for them to oppress.

  • Even from just movies and video games, I know to empty the breech and not just take out the magazine.

    At the same time: It should be treated as loaded 100% of the time even if you just 100% fully unloaded it.

    I go the extra mile and treat it as loaded even after taking it apart. Never know when the barrel tube might go rogue.

      • X@piefed.world
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        4 months ago

        Ding ding ding. If you can see light when looking up the barrel through the breech/chamber, your weapon is very likely to be clear.

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      I know to empty the breech and not just take out the magazine

      It is so very important to know that there is a right order in which to do this, too. Many many NDs come from people racking the slide then dropping the mag. At least one life that I know of would have been saved by getting the order right

  • otacon239@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I’ve had multiple people try and hand me a gun saying “It’s not loaded.” Let me see you clear it, please. I want to see light down that chamber if I’m going to accept that. Some guys get annoyed, but I once failed a gun safety course as a teen because I forgot to ask as the instructor as he handed me one. I will absolutely never forget that going forward.

    • poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org
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      4 months ago

      My rule is whenever anyone hands me a gun (why do people do that so often?) I always eject the magazine then rack the slide myself to verify. I don’t trust the other guy not to do it too fast and not to have his finger on the trigger

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I taught my kids never to touch a gun unless the owner cleared it in front of them and showed them the empty chamber.

  • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    The town I used to live in has to have signs in the laundromat to remind people to check their pockets for ammo.

    Apparently they’ve had to replace a couple dryers.

    • DancingBear@midwest.social
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      4 months ago

      Can a bullet fire just from a dryer? Wouldn’t that mean firearms would be randomly discharging in people cars in hot places like Arizona? Or is it somehow sparking or something from beating against the dryer like buttons from jeans or coveralls?

      Asking because I never knew that was a thing lol

      • PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Man, that would be a fantastic topic for Mythbusters!

        Just yesterday evening I saw their final episode on YouTube, closing up fourteen years of shows. I was moved.

      • PoliteDudeInTheMood@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        Maybe a really hot commercial dryer, but nothing at home or coin operated is likely to set a bullet off. Most dryers operate at under 200F, smokeless powder ignites at 300-350F. Also when not in the confines of a barrel they generally just pop as explained in this video:

        https://youtu.be/3SlOXowwC4c

          • PoliteDudeInTheMood@lemmy.ca
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            4 months ago

            Centerfire ammo needs a strong precise hit to the primer to set it off, I think that’s statistically unlikely for a loose object like a screw or a zipper to set that off.

            Rimfire ammo has the primer inside the rim of the base. I suppose it could be possible for a heavy tumble against a sharp metal ridge in the drum being enough to discharge the round.

  • X@piefed.world
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    4 months ago

    If you aren’t condition 4 when entering, I’ll meet you at condition 0.