Never mind Halloween, THIS is scary

[cjsmith]

Me answering these questions? Um.

Two guys from my office are going to a nearby gun range this evening. (I would have gone with them, but I get only one chance a year to hand out candy to kids on Halloween. I'll go to the range another time.)

Anyway, I just got asked some really basic questions about how to work a semiautomatic.

*wibble* It's an odd day when I am considered the firearms expert or the firearms safety expert. By anybody.

So I answered. I made sure to note that just because you drop the magazine, you don't know the gun is unloaded; you have to pull back the slide to see whether there's one in the chamber. I slipped that into the conversation twice. Then I took the opportunity to say that ya know, the range personnel are very helpful, and if you have any questions about how to operate a specific pistol, particularly the one you're about to rent, just ask them and they'll be more than happy to show you.

There's a group of interested people at work, and of that pile of folk, I probably am among the most experienced. I think it's time I thought a bit about how best to answer questions.

Comments

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

"If the slide isn't locked open, the gun is ready to fire."

Oh, and,

"Never put your finger inside the trigger guard unless you're pointing the weapon at your target."

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Within the context of a two-minute across-the-cubicle-wall kind of conversation, I wonder if I should have launched into the four rules and suchlike. I don't know if the person who was asking me has been through any kind of a general firearms safety briefing, and I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is No.

See, this is why I *wibble*. Did I do the wrong thing, or to rephrase, could I have done a much better thing?

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

I'd probably have told them to take the course at the range, whichever range they are going to - if they've already taken one, they can tell me dude, already done it, and if they haven't, they really should.

It's spooky to realise that in my workgroup I'm the most knowledgeable about This Subject as well. I keep wanting there to be someone to refer the questions to, and where I am, there isn't.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

In retrospect I'd prefer to have given that answer. That's kind of awkward when the original question was specific, but... maybe I need to figure out how to handle that gracefully.

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

I think both options are good. Formal gun education is absolutely critical. However, I also think that any opportunity one has to remind people of the inherent danger of firearms should be taken.

So, I think, you did fine with what you had. Tomorrow, if you get a chance to get their reviews of the evening, suggesting a safety course wouldn't be amiss.