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| Guns and Kids in the USA - and the BBC | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 16 May 2016, 09:47 AM (345 Views) | |
| Owlish52 | 16 May 2016, 09:47 AM Post #1 |
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The BBC has an article up at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36270215 on "...shootings that involve young children. Are these incidents on the rise?" IMO, they are not, but they are being publicized more. Unfortunately, there have been issues like this for decades, including one 'right next door' - no one was injured, fortunately, about 50 years ago. That said, even as a pro-gun individual, there are some serious issues in how guns are stored that can be improved. 1) Do not store a firearm with a live cartridge in the chamber. Period. This will (IMO) resolve the majority of issues. Many firearms can 'go off' and send a bullet out to do potential harm if dropped with a live cartridge in the chamber - including older Colt M1911's (see below) and many revolvers. 2) Do not use a double-action revolver (almost all modern revolvers are double-action) for personal protection. Any kid can use a revolver, and a double-action means the revolver moves to a live chamber every time the trigger is pulled. This makes even a revolver with en empty chamber almost immediately dangerous. 3) If you must have a pistol, use an auto-loader with an empty chamber. Most children (esp. young children) don't know how to cycle the action (strip a cartridge from a magazine into the firing chamber) on an auto-loading pistol, and they usually lack the strength to do so. Plus, TBH, the sound of a weapon (auto-loading pistol, shotgun or rifle) being cycled is a great warning to anyone to clear the area. The sound of a pump-action shotgun being cycled carries exceedingly well... 4) Many auto-loading pistols also have what is called a grip safety, meaning the pistol must be held properly with a lever built into the back of the grip being depressed before the pistol will fire. Not every pistol has this feature, but many do. This pistol will not fire unless the grip safety lever is pressed when the trigger is pulled. Most little hands can not span that reach. This weapon (I have shot a Colt M1911 and it's many variants in practice and in competitions - not too well ) also has a 'button' safety (the small round button just to the right of the trigger) which also needs to be engaged to allow the pistol to fire, but that is a 'press once' thing. The M1911 is a large pistol, but some smaller pistols also have the same features (but certainly not all - the grip safety in particular). If I were to keep a loaded pistol for self-protection (I usually do not), I would (and do) use an auto-loader like this Colt with an empty chamber and a loaded clip in but not engaged in the pistol. Two quick moves (engage the clip and cycle the action) that I'm very comfortable with would move this weapon from dangerous-looking to very dangerous in fact, but those are not moves that a youngster would know to make or be able to make readily (a few men and many smaller women have trouble cycling the action on a M1911). People that do not store a gun safely when there are simple ways to do so are a danger. The incident that happened next door was when a child found grandpa's loaded revolver under the car seat and put a bullet between his fingers (and through the floor of the car). Most of the child-related incidents involve 'found' firearms that were (IMO) improperly stored in an unsafe manner. No firearm should (again, my opinion) be stored with a live cartridge in the chamber, and every firearm should be handled as if it did have a live cartridge in the chamber. Edited by Owlish52, 16 May 2016, 10:08 AM.
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| Bahamoth | 17 May 2016, 04:30 AM Post #2 |
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Thanks, Owly. Some good advice, I think. Personally, I would love a gun. I've always loved shooting. I like the challenge of hitting the target and feeling more like a hunter, I suppose (if I think deep down), keeping me in touch with our ancestral roots. I also would like to feel as though I were able to protect myself and my family in the event of some bad thing happening. HOWEVER, I know that I would not be doing anything of the sort (as in, I would just be a danger) unless I had thorough training. So, to your list, I would add 'fully trained in how to not accidentally shoot people you don't want to shoot'. With such restrictions, restrictions only designed to keep everyone safe, I would be happy to allow guns. If there were govt sponsored training programmes (to reduce the cost), and I could make sure I got a gun safe (I'd probably have one of those bookshelves that spins and takes me to a room lined from top to floor with weapons of all kinds - you know, if money was no object, and Trump was president - or actually just if Trump was president - the world would crumble, people) then I would probably buy myself a nice little piece. But then again, I'm one of those people who think that maybe, JUST MAYBE, survival skills might become VERY important within our lifetime. I'm even thinking of writing a book designed to teach laypeople everything they need to know about how to survive in a post-Trump era. Mind you, not sure I would want to help OTHERS survive, now I come to think of it. Perhaps the book would be littered with minefields that I could trigger if ever I came up against a reader in the hellhole that the world would be come in the Trumpian Era. Of course, anti-gun people would point out that wackos with military training are more dangerous than just wackos with guns (not sure I agree, but the argument would be made, I expect). Edited by Bahamoth, 17 May 2016, 04:35 AM.
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| Zip | 17 May 2016, 09:22 PM Post #3 |
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My son has a rifle. He uses it to kill vermin or if camping he shoots rabbits etc for meat.Its not for me but each to their own. |
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) also has a 'button' safety (the small round button just to the right of the trigger) which also needs to be engaged to allow the pistol to fire, but that is a 'press once' thing. The M1911 is a large pistol, but some smaller pistols also have the same features (but certainly not all - the grip safety in particular).



8:31 AM Jul 11