I recently acknowledged that everyone, whether a gun owner or not, should take the time to learn basic gun handling rules.
I was in an incident recently where a gun accidentally went off. I was visiting friends who had been drinking and one pulled out a gun to show it off. I felt uneasy but kept assuming he was going to put the gun down. Someone told him to put it away but he became more headstrong in acting like he knew what he was doing. He took out the magazine and noticed a bullet was still lodged in the chamber, so he started fidgeting with it and it went off. Thankfully no one was hurt, but I replay the incident in my mind and feel like an idiot for not getting out of there.
I contacted a friend who is a range safety officer and asked him to point me in the direction of official gun safety rules. He sent links to NRA’s gun safety rules, as well as rules provided by National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The links provided bare minimum gun safety advice. The NRA also provided material for children to learn about gun safety, and offer additional gun safety courses for a fee. I’m surprised the NRA doesn’t offer more extensive gun safety advice for free.
I do not feel the gun safety advice from the sources addressed my situation. I was not the gun owner, I was a person in the presence of a gun owner. I learned from gun users in a forum that the main rule for me at the time was to just get out of the room.
I felt angry afterwards that the guy did not handle the gun responsibly. I am pro-Second Amendment, and to see someone misuse a gun like that was infuriating. For the record, I have never handled guns myself, and have never taught myself basic gun safety handling because I have never been a gun owner. I have always assumed that gun owners are the only ones that should know gun safety rules, but now I realize that even non-gun owners like myself should also be aware of gun safety. The knowledge is not only important for personal safety, but also to educate gun owners that haven’t taken the time to learn how to use a gun responsibly, like the person I encountered.
I have decided to invest time into learning more about gun safety from the gun user’s perspective as well as the non-gun user.
Lauren Ell is an American blogger born and raised in Southern California and is currently based in Sweden. She discusses Epilepsy, Politics and Fun. Professionally Ell is an Online Marketing Consultant and Virtual Assistant. She is also founder and president of Republican Atheists. Connect with Lauren on Facebook and Twitter.