Gun safety is pretty easy if you always remember it and follow the four cardinal rules. Ignoring these rules and exhibiting careless behavior can have tragic consequences.
I’ve taught Hunter Safety in Illinois for 40 years. You are 100% correct Kevin. Checking a firearm to be absolutely sure it’s unloaded is the first item we teach in every session AND we repeat it often throughout the class! When handed from one person to another, both are responsible for checking this! In addition, TREAT EVERY FIREARM AS IF IT’S LOADED and, even though you know it’s unloaded, NEVER POINT A FIREARM AT ANYTHING YOU DO NOT WISH TO DESTROY! These actions should be practiced until they are automatic, just as we practice keeping our trigger finger OFF THE TRIGGER until we are ready to fire! Keep up the great video’s Kevin and repetition is never a bad thing! I cringe when I think about all the new gun owners who have never handled a firearm and who will not seek out any training! I would suggest to these folks that they refrain from buying ammo until they take at least a basic class!!!
Wow, who would have thought that a firearm for sale in the display case of a gun store would be a loaded weapon! That truly proves the point about assuming that all weapons are loaded until proven otherwise!
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When I’ve been shopping in my local gun store, I always point the weapon in a safe direction when I dry fire it, but I thought that was a mere formality. This was a really instructive video for ALWAYS following ALL the rules of gun safety!
@Robert551 Welcome to the community, we are glad to have you here. Stay safe Bruce and Nancy. 
Yes, when I first saw that video a couple of years ago, I was cringing from when the firearm was first removed from the case, through the LEO pointing it at the other customers until it fired. Everything Kevin stated, I recall learning much, much younger than he at 12 years-old at a hunter safety class. Sadly, the officer, at probably at least 3 times older than Kevin was when he learned, did not follow basic firearm safety rules. Luckily, many here would thank God, he did not harm anyone else with his negligent discharge. A lesson that should not have had to be learned in such a way.
It’s always the “unloaded guns” that seem to accidentally discharge. We should ALL stop using the phrase “make a complete safe weapon”. If we want to inculcate the cardinal rules of firearms safety, to include “treating every weapon as if its loaded”, that phrase is a contradiction. The US Marine Corps wisely made this change many years ago. Weapons will be properly checked to ensure they are unloaded whenever appropriate but don’t call them “safe“.
We had a similar incident at a gun show in Central Illinois a few years back. The dealer handed an AR to a customer without checking it and the customer failed to check it. Someone had slipped a live round in the chamber and POW!!! Thank God the customer was following good protocol in pointing the gun at the ceiling. Safe gun handling can never be overlooked!!!
My take on the rule about loaded firearms is to always verify status. There are times when you want it chambered and times when you want it unchambered - always verify that state - at least twice.
As a retired veteran, keeping a firearm at the low ready position is one of the first if not primary lessons you learn in BT. I think this is a great clip to show the utter importance of knowing and applying firearm safety. It is unfortunate the officer injured himself in the process. I’m impressed with the film and Mr. Michalowski’s expertise on this particular subject. Thanks USCCA!
@Larnell Welcome to the community, we are glad to have you here. Stay safe, Bruce and Nancy.
Point definitely taken about not assuming a weapon is unloaded. Still, I have to ask the question as to why on earth a gun shop would leave a loaded weapon in the showcase in the first place? Don’t they inspect the weapons before putting them on display? What would have happened if anyone else got hurt?
Apparently someone screwed-up, but so did the person behind the counter and the LEO “inspecting” the firearm. If only one of them followed proper handling, this would not have happened. It shows how uncommon, “common sense” can be.
Both of these guys are “NUMBSKULLS”. YIKES!!!
great video and it proves that my gun store (Kittery Trading Post) knows what they are doing, they would have never allowed this to happen
