this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2025
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[–] RedC@sh.itjust.works 10 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

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 6 points 5 hours 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.

[–] grillgamesh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 94 points 15 hours ago (11 children)

obligatory firearm safety reminder:

  • rule one is "keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire"
  • rule two is "never point the weapon at anything you are not willing to destroy"
  • rule three is "always treat any weapon as though it is loaded"
  • rule four is "know your target and what lays beyond it"

only by holding each other accountable can we make sure that everyone stays safe and has fun.

[–] FlihpFlorp@piefed.zip 12 points 12 hours ago

My grandpa who takes me shooting was going over the firearm safety rules and with rule two I was like “that seems extreme” and his response it’s supposed to be, a gun killing or injuring or damaging isn’t as vivid as the word destroy

And yeah for me the other rules kinda seemed a given, bullets move fast and possibly through our hanging rubber targets, the gun probably can’t fire if you don’t give it a squeeze, and as for loaded better safe than sorry.

These rules seemed almost obvious to me, and yet there’s all these guys at the range behaving like absolute idiots

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[–] infinitevalence@discuss.online 132 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

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.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 8 points 11 hours ago (5 children)

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.

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[–] y0kai@anarchist.nexus 52 points 16 hours ago (6 children)

same. people think they're smarter than themselves.

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[–] wheezy@lemmy.ml 26 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (3 children)

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.

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 hours 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

[–] poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 12 hours 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

[–] Gerudo@lemmy.zip 22 points 15 hours 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.

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[–] HollowNaught@lemmy.world 20 points 13 hours ago (10 children)

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

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 23 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours 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.

[–] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago

Idk why but you reminded me of this story lol.

I had a neighbor for a while who would walk around talking to himself. The closest I got to him, I was walking to the dumpsters with the trash and he was walking the other way towards me. As I was walking by I nodded and said "how's it going" y'know as ya do, and he responded with a totally normal "fuck you american you come to africa I kill you yadda yadda." I laughed and said "Ok you have a nice one too" and everything was cool, but I probably would have been worried if I hadn't had a gun concealed on me at the time.

Luckily I didn't have to use it! Closest I've got was a different dude who pulled a knife on me and my then-gf in a parking lot in '19. I moved the concealment and grabbed the grip and for some unknown reason he decided to walk away without pressing the issue further. I assume he found someone else to rob, no clue what happened after I bought my groceries and left.

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[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 54 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

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 31 points 15 hours ago (9 children)

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

[–] X@piefed.world 7 points 12 hours 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.

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[–] sirico@feddit.uk 62 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Take a bullet, leave a bullet

[–] SonicBlue03@sh.itjust.works 37 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

I can't tell you how many times this has saved me at checkout.

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[–] quoll@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 5 hours ago (1 children)
[–] tubthumper@lemmy.world -1 points 4 hours ago

With all due respect, right the fuck now we shan't.

We shall, maybe, some time in a faraway future when things in society are, shall we say, less immediately threatening to literal life and liberty.

gets off intoxicated soapbox

So we shan't, maybe later it's a shall, but we shan't.

Shan't.

[–] y0kai@anarchist.nexus 51 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Rule #0 of firearm safety: Trust no one.

[–] fleem@piefed.zeromedia.vip 21 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

not even myself from an hour ago! or 5 minutes ago! Every single time one is picked up it is checked

[–] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 7 points 13 hours ago

Never trust the last person, especially if the last person was you.

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[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 17 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] NotSteve_@piefed.ca 15 points 15 hours ago (5 children)

What the fuck are Americans doing?

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 1 points 2 hours ago

Shop worker: "Clear you're weapon sir."

Customer: "Ain't loaded."

Shop worker: "Sorry, store policy."

Customer: "Fine" (clears weapon, ejects a live round) "Oops! How'd that get in there."

Shop worker: (Puts the ejected round into the jar) "How can I help you today?"

[–] X@piefed.world 11 points 12 hours ago

I’m no expert on their citizenry, but on average, probably the same fucking shit you or I are doing.

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