Gun Safety

daddyflea

daddyflea

Active member
I read the other post and decided I would ask a basic question about Gun safety. Since most of you are avid hunters, I wonder how many unload their guns every time you get in a vehicle or change locations.

I have to tell you that I do not. The reason I do not is two fold. One I have been in Law Enforcement all my life and have seen first hand that the more you load and unload a weapon the more you increase the risk that it will accidently discharge.

I have seen persons that are anal about loading and unloading their guns have more accidents than everyone else combined. I can not hunt with anyone that snaps an unloaded gun because I know they are going to shoot a hole in something sooner or later.

I am very strict about muzzle control and teach my kids to treat every gun as if it were loaded because if they are mine, it is a good chance it is loaded.

I am willing to bet the guy in the other post would not have shot his hunting partner if he left that pistol in its holster.
 
My action/chamber is always clear when I get into the vehicle. The only time I completely empty out my gun is while night hunting. That is only because the law says I have too. You are right the more you handle a weapon, loading and unloading it, you do increase the likely hood of an accident. But if you follow all other safety precautions the accident is much less likely to include loss of life or property.
 
I hunt primarily with my son who is 13. We have an understanding that we will constantly remind each other and ask anything regarding gun safety. We never get into a vehicle with a loaded gun (its against the law in CO anyway). We never cross a fence with one either.
Handling a loaded pistol inside a vehicle is a recipe for disaster...no matter how you spin that.
 
Occasionally I will leave a round chambered when in a vehicle (safety on), but that's because I'm still "hunting" (p-dogs off the side of the 2 track for instance). In that case the muzzle is pointed at the floor or out the window and I'm in control (holding) of the rifle.

Usually (coyote hunting) I put the rifle in the back seat or somewhere it's NOT in my hands, and then it's without a round in the chamber (but otherwise loaded).

My 1911 is ALWAYS "cocked and locked" (and holstered) unless I'm shooting it or cleaning it (and I do have a CCW).
 
Lots of states make that decision for you with it being illegal to have a loaded gun in your vehicle. This is another question that comes up often.

Simple rule that I follow is no loaded chambers in the vehicle. I have a CCW so the pocket 38 with five rounds breaks that rule. Don't know how that goes with my simple rule, but that's the way it is.

My shooting buddy has a hole in the roof of his pickup where another fella's unloaded gun went off while he was moving to a different hunting area.

Bottom line is with two granddoughters whom are avid varmit hunters it's better to be safe that any advantage a loaded gun in the vehicle might offer a person.

Stay with your state law or common sense on this question.
 
Like Bob, Washington says unload the gun completely. I don't like it, practically, and for safety reasons. I'd much prefer to leave the mag loaded and empty the chamber. That way your mentality is, it's always loaded. No matter what. Like a hot range. You handle it safer, your head is in the right place all the time, and it's more ready to go if you have to bail into the brush after a critter!
 
99% of the time, barrel down towards floorboard and one in the pipe.
I was raised that way and so were my kids.

An unloaded gun is no better than a club.

If you see a gun in my vehicle, treat it as loaded, cause it is.

Probably illegal, but so is 61 mph in 60 mph zone.

Clayman
 
Friend of mine who always put his muzzle on the floor of the ride, quit it last year,
After he blew his 7mm Mag up, tried to shoot a "mud" bullet.

No ammo in a rifle or shotgun in this state, permit or not, while in a auto or on RV. I dont mind it. O'course my 1911 is always full, and legal.

One thing always T's me off, why do people wait until they are in camp or beside the car to unload? Cant you do it 50 feet away while pointing safely?
Why do folks lean the gun against a car, bush, tree, you name it? If it is laying down it can't fall.
Carl
 
i always unload my rifle before getting in the vehicle. the tennessee wildlife recources agency doesn't care much for loaded firearms in vehicles!
 
I unload mine before I get back in the truck every time. Ohio says to do it this way & I'm not gonna lose anything by following the law I guess. But even if it weren't the law I would still unload it pointing at the ground.Remove the clip 1st then run the bolt. A loaded gun in a vehicle is a hazard as well. If the gun is rested on the floor against the seat & it slides I hope nobody grabs it the wrong way to stop it. JMO

Good thread by the way. Most accidents are caused by lack of attention thru sheer repitition. We get complacent at times & thats when it goes bad.
 
Muzzle control is my first rule- never point the muzzle at anything you don't want to kill.

My second rule is nothing in the chamber when in the vehicle. Exception to this rule is prairie dog shooting where the barrel is out the window (and even then I prefer unchambered, bolt open). Muzzle control is always in effect, though. If the gun goes off, it's pointed in a safe direction.

I will sometimes keep a round chambered and on safety when I'm actively hunting and expecting game to pop up any moment (deer, elk, birds, etc.), but otherwise, I just like it better with the chamber empty. More than once, I've had brush flick a Winchester off safety or I've fallen an knocked a safety off- what if the first fall knocks the safety off and then a stick hits the trigger? If game pops up, I'm fast enough with a bolt that the difference between "safety off/on" and "chamber a round" is negligible, esp. by the time I think "uh...am I on safety or not?" I rarely take snap running shots anyway and even bird hunting, there's usually plenty of time to chamber a round (it's not much different than taking that second shot...) on a pump gun. In the end, gun safety is more important than a missed shot.

As far as handguns go, I rarely carry one and when I do, it's a revolver on an empty chamber.

That's just me- YMMV, of course.
 
My position is that if I'm in the same immediate hunting area and just moving my vehicle down a back road, it will stay loaded and on safe... If I'm going to be on a paved road where I'm likely to encounter any other traffic, it (my rifle) is unloaded.

Since I carry concealed, that one is always loaded and one in the pipe, but it isn't normally handled. When I was in law enforcement we had too many ADs from officers unloading their weapons to put them in the locker and then reloading them at the next shift... You are supposed to remove the magazine, empty the chamber and then drop the hammer.... Some of them got that sequence confused.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
In a hunting situation you should always unload your gun (loaded mag on dirt roads is still safe) when you get to the vehicle. Period. An open action is one precaution you can take to ensure an unloaded (or loaded for that matter) gun does not fire. It doesn't matter if you have a discharge while unloading a firearm. Sound hunter safety says to point the muzzle in a safe direction. By that logic, even if the gun does go off, you are still safe. A closed action in a vehicle is always dangerous. Period. It doesn't matter how you were raised; any time you have a closed chamber in a vehicle, especially when you knowingly have it loaded or have rounds in the magazine, the weapon is extremely unsafe. There's a reason why unloaded guns kill people.
 
Quote:
When I was in law enforcement we had too many ADs from officers unloading their weapons to put them in the locker and then reloading them at the next shift... You are supposed to remove the magazine, empty the chamber and then drop the hammer.... Some of them got that sequence confused.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif



An accident is not an excuse to do something even more unsafe. A loaded gun always has the potential to kill someone. An unloaded gun handled improperly may spare a life. An unloaded gun handled safely will almost always serve its purpose. A loaded gun in storage is trouble looking for a place to happen.
 
My guns are always "loaded" as far as I am concerned. When someone picks up one of my guns the last thing I will tell them is that it is unloaded. If one learns to handle them this way there is little chance to have accidental discharges when the gun is "unloaded".
 
In our province a gun MUST be unloaded in or on any type of vehicle ( trucks, atvs or skidoos) A gun is considered loaded if the magizine is loaded and attached to the firearm.
May seem a little stiff to some but I know of 2 people who put loaded firearms in their vehicles - one put a round from his .308 through the floor of his truck , through his cross over pipe , through his rim and finally punched his tire. The other put his loaded .410 shotgun in the box of his truck,had to stop short, load of shot passed through the truck box, the truck seat (between him and his wife) and took out a chunk of his dash.
You can never be too carefull - to me no game on this earth is worth a single human life.
 
Load and unload outside the vehicle in a safe manner, and watch the muzzle. NO loaded guns in the vehicle. (round in the chamber/under the hammer.
 
I think that most hunters /sportsmen/shooters unload their wepons in a vehicle,( personal Protection excepted).
If they did not,...the risk you seem to think has increased,.. would be out of sight for accidents.

Pack
 
Complacency will kill someone. I went duck hunting with my 6 year old last Saturday. I was in a rush to get home that night, and cased my Auto-5 with a full magazine and a round in the chamber. STUPID. I forgot about it and left it in the gun room for cleaning. When I got around to cleaning it the next day, I forgot it was loaded. I sprayed it down, wiped it off, and was cleaning the magazine well in front of the trigger guard, bumping the safety off to get all the metal wiped down, and realized IT WAS LOADED! The butt of the gun was on my bench and the barrel was pointed up..I was in the basement with the family upstairs. If I had wiped down the trigger, the gun probably would have fired.

I was shaking I was so scared when I realized what happened. I have been hunting/shooting all my life, my father was a Marine vet who taught me gun safety, and I have never made an error like that in my life.

I thought this was importtant to tell here. No matter how safe you are, complacency around firearms is deadly!! Stick with your good habits of unloading weapons in/around vehicles.
 
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