Many individuals regard firearms safety as a stand-alone issue. It is anything but that.
Safety is an integral part of tactics. It does you absolutely no good to shoot either yourself or others that you don’t intend to shoot in a tactical situation. Think of it this way: don’t do unto yourself what the bad guy has been trying to do to you all along.
Many individuals have shot partners, team members and bystanders in critical situations due to a lax attitude towards safety during training scenarios that carried over into the field—when it was ‘for real.’
Imagine, for instance, this following situation. You engage an assailant when it is well within the legal framework to do so. The assailant is struck peripherally, or even missed altogether, yet he has dropped his weapon and surrendered. As you approach the suspect, who no longer poses a deadly force threat, you cover him with your pistol yet have your finger improperly positioned on the trigger and you inadvertently press off a shot, killing or injuring the now-unarmed suspect. Just to drive home the point, imagine that there are about a dozen witnesses to this and that it’s caught on video, and add to that your own moral considerations and legal responsibility. The fact that you had your finger on the trigger in direct violation of safety protocols (which you may have been lax about during training) and were covering the suspect when he was no longer a threat has transformed a legally defensible shooting into a negligent homicide or assault with a deadly weapon charge at best.
The effects of this one shot will last for years. Lives have been radically altered, vast sums of money will be depleted, and careers destroyed by one safety rule violation.
Again, safety and tactics are interdependent. Safety is not a ‘stand alone’ issue. Safety is an integral part of tactics. Safety is not a ‘myth’ it is practiced and adhered to and constantly enforced.
Safety is a viable ethos which stems from those with real world experience who know better. Sound tactics require that safety is always, always in place.
Another aspect of safety that has rarely been addressed—possibly never—is that of ego.
Ego and firearms safety do not mix well. This unhealthy combination tends to appear in advanced training formats, and is especially prevalent when peers train together. So-called alpha males often regard the firearm safety basics as being inapplicable to themselves. Any violations of firearms safety might be incorrectly viewed as a right of entitlement due to their vast experience. This is always a bad call. Bullets cannot distinguish between experienced and novice shooters. Irrespective of who you may think you are or what you have accomplished, safety protocols apply to you just as much, if not more so, than the first-time shooter. There is not a single human out there that has not made
mistakes, is not making mistakes, or will not make mistakes in the future. A true professional sheds his ego when he works with firearms. If anything, he thanks those that have pointed out a discrepancy in his safety protocols. Set aside the ego and you will ensure your safety and lose nothing in the
process.
SECTION V BASICS
“The importance of learning solid basic skills cannot be overstated — this lays the foundation for all else that follows.”
—Brett McQueen
TERMINOLOGY
Handgun refers to any firearm that is designed to be held and operated by either one or two hands and that has no shoulder stock or other support mechanism.
Pistol refers to any semi-automatic (“self-loading”) handgun.
Revolver refers to a handgun with an exposed rear-loading rotary cylinder/firing chamber mechanism.
Cartridge refers to the assembled combination of bullet, case, primer, and propellant.
Bullet refers to the projectile part of a cartridge.
Semi-automatic refers to a firearm operating mode in which, when the firearm is discharged, the empty cartridge case is automatically removed from the weapon’s chamber and a fresh cartridge is inserted, and which permits only one round to be fired per trigger press.
Fully automatic refers to a firearm operating mode in which automatic reloading occurs as described above and which permits multiple rounds to be fired per trigger press.
Dominant eye refers to the eye whose visual input naturally takes precedence. Usually, (but not always) this eye is on the same body side as your dominant hand. To determine eye dominance, open both eyes, extend your right arm out directly in front of you and hold the right thumb straight up and align it on an object. Close the left eye. If the object remains centered on the right thumb you are right eye dominant. The opposite holds true for left eye dominant individual.
The firing hand is the one which holds the pistol and whose finger presses the handgun’s trigger.
The firing support hand is that hand which supplements the firing hand. If this hand is the only one to hold and fire the pistol it is still referred to as the firing support hand.
The firing arm is the arm attached to the firing hand.
The support arm is the arm attached to the support hand.