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

You may want to pass this along to them...

[shoutingboy.livejournal.com]

IMAO.us's Gun Safety Tips (http://www.thoseshirts.com/imaogun.html)

Example:

8. No matter how responsible he seems, never give your gun to a monkey.

[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."

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

whoa! There's a memory from W20s!!

i hope these guys took your advice and sought further guidance once at the range. this is definitely not something to just figure out on your own!

looking forward to your passing-out-candy post! i missed it this year (again). did you get to dress up, too? i could loan you my cat-ears headband! :)