Safety

From Shooting Wiki

An Overview

Regardless of the design and intended purpose of a firearm, as with power tools, motor vehicles, etc., all firearms can kill. Your safety and the safety of those around you, is your responsibility.

Safety is not only a matter of preventing accidents from happening, but a matter of preserving the good name of our sport.

Safety is taken so seriously that under the rules of the ISSF, safety violations during a match can result in instant disqualification of the competitor. See ISSF Rule 7.9.6.8, ISSF Rule 8.9.6.8, ISSF Rule 9.2.2.4.2, ISSF Rule 9.16.2.6, ISSF Rule 10.9.6.6.5, ISSF Rule 9.13.5.2.1.

• Always read the Operator's/Safety manual – Seek clarification on anything you do not understand.
• Treat all firearms as loaded at all times – even if you have already checked, and it is not.
• Always check that a firearm is not loaded;
  • When you pick it up
  • When you put it down
  • Before you give it to someone else
  • When someone hands a firearm to you – even if they just checked it!

• Never touch someone else's firearm without asking permission first. If you don’t know how to check it, ask before you pick it up.
• Never point a firearm at anyone or anything you do not intent to shoot – always keep a firearm pointing down range.
• Never place your finger on the trigger until you intend to shoot.
• Be certain of your target, your line of fire and the background, should you miss.
• Never leave a firearm unattended or in an unattended vehicle.
• Always store a firearm, unloaded, in a safe place, where unauthorized persons can not get access to it.
• It is preferable, and in some locations a legal requirement (Check your local laws), to store firearms and ammunition separately.
• Minors, those not eligible to own firearms in their own right because of age, must be supervised at all times. (Check your local laws – some countries do not allow minors to handle firearms at all)

Above All If you keep the following single thought in the back of your mind at all times, and behave that way, it will help you remember all the rest of the safety rules:

All guns are always loaded!

Note: for the purpose of this article air guns are regarded as firearms. They to can kill and sadly accidents in the press have borne this out.

What is a 'Safe Direction'

There are various references in discussions on firearms safety and in the ISSF rules to a 'safe direction'. Within the ISSF rules and good range practices this can be reasonable simply defined:

For Pistol:

• Overall, 8.6.1.2 states ‘Before and during the series, including while chambering a cartridge, or checking or cocking a pistol or revolver, the pistol must always be kept pointing down range and within the target backstop area before returning to the READY position for the next shot, or while awaiting the command “UNLOAD”.’
  • the dividing walls are NOT part of the target backstop area
  • any overhead or ground level safety baffles are NOT part of the backstop area
  • the roofing is NOT part of the backstop area
  • the shooter’s bench is NOT part of the backstop area
    

• for a loaded pistol, specifically:
  • not to be aligned above or below the target backstop area (8.2.5.1)
  • allowance is made for those 25m events requiring the ‘Ready’ position in 8.6.1.2, but limits this “but must not be pointed at the ground within the forward edge of the firing point in 8.6.1.3
  • does not need to come further sideways more than about 5 degrees (not even for Rapid Fire Pistol – work it out)
    

For Rifle things are not so clear cut (unfortunately!); there are a number of loopholes in the ISSF rifle rules, but:

For Shotgun