Why You Should Always Check The Firearm

[carlson1]

In a gun store in Kentucky a Police Officer shoots his hand. This is a couple years old, but the first time I have seen the video.

[allisji]

There is something strange about this video, which the camera moving and the audible sound footage as well as the response of everyone else in the room... That said, it serves as a good reminder to follow the 4 basic safety rules. He could have shot the clerk, or any of the other bystanders. He should have verified that the weapon was clear before he did anything else.

[bmwrdr]

Thanks for the reminder. It can happen to anybody ignoring basic safety.

[strogg]

This looks staged to me too. But regardless, at any gun store, I watch the clerk safety check the firearm, then when (s)he hands it to me, I do the same. When I hand it back, (s)he then does the same thing again. NEVER slack on that. Firearm safety at a gun store is everyone's responsibility, not just the other person's.

[carlson1]

Here is a link to the story. Could be fake news who know anymore?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washin ... wn-finger/

A former police officer has filed suit against a hunting and fishing store in Kentucky after shooting off his own finger when an employee gave him a loaded gun.

“He’s had multiple surgeries, thousands of dollars in medical expenses,” Smith’s attorney, B. Alan Simpson, told The Post in a phone interview Tuesday.

Not only did the officer shoot his hand and point the pistol at customers at the end of the counter, but the clerk grabbed the pistol by the barrel and neither did he clear the pistol.

[Jose_in_Dallas]

There is something strange about this video, which the camera moving and the audible sound footage as well as the response of everyone else in the room... That said, it serves as a good reminder to follow the 4 basic safety rules. He could have shot the clerk, or any of the other bystanders. He should have verified that the weapon was clear before he did anything else.

I'm at work and do not have speakers (or a headset) on my computer but it's possible that someone recorded the footage from the monitor in order to upload it to YouTube. At least that's what it looks like to me.

As mentioned already, I always treat a gun as if it was loaded. I always check to see if it's loaded whenever someone hands one to me and I do the same whenever I hand someone a gun back; typically with the action open.

[flechero]

Not only did the clerk not clear it- there was clearly a loaded a mag in the gun. I wonder if the tape goes back far enough to see who loaded the gun?

I often get a funny look from a clerk when I re-check a gun he just cleared before handing it to me. Can't help it, I've had an "unloaded" gun handed to me before - only to check and find it loaded.

[allisji]

Not only did the clerk not clear it- there was clearly a loaded a mag in the gun. I wonder if the tape goes back far enough to see who loaded the gun?

I often get a funny look from a clerk when I re-check a gun he just cleared before handing it to me. Can't help it, I've had an "unloaded" gun handed to me before - only to check and find it loaded.

I've never encountered a clerk who takes offense or even thinks twice when I clear a gun that they just cleared in front of me. To me locking back the slide and ejecting the magazine is not just a critical safety check, but also is step 1 of checking the controls and functionality of any semi-auto that I'm looking at.

[Jusme]

Not only did the clerk not clear it- there was clearly a loaded a mag in the gun. I wonder if the tape goes back far enough to see who loaded the gun?

I often get a funny look from a clerk when I re-check a gun he just cleared before handing it to me. Can't help it, I've had an "unloaded" gun handed to me before - only to check and find it loaded.

I've never encountered a clerk who takes offense or even thinks twice when I clear a gun that they just cleared in front of me. To me locking back the slide and ejecting the magazine is not just a critical safety check, but also is step 1 of checking the controls and functionality of any semi-auto that I'm looking at.

In fact I will ask them to lock the slide back if they don't do it automatically. I will then do my own visual check, drop the mag etc. before putting my finger anywhere near the trigger. Even if I want to dry fire it, I will do so with no mag, and only after another visual check. It will then be pointed, in a safe direction. I will then lock the slide back before handing it back to the sales clerk. I have never had anyone refuse to oblige me, my paranoia. If they had, they would have lost all hope of a sale. Finding someone to blame after the fact only reemphasizes, my belief, that everyone is responsible for their own safety. JMHO

[E.Marquez]

I've never encountered a clerk who takes offense or even thinks twice when I clear a gun that they just cleared in front of me. .

Once and only once in a lot of years was I chastised for clearing a gun already cleared and handed to me.. At a Pawn Shop.
Him "Sir we do not allow a customer to cycle the actions or dry fire the firearms" "
ME "ah, ok Im not dry firing it, Im checking to make sure it is clear before handling the weapon"
Him "Sir I already did that, customers are not allowed to its just to dangerous"

Me: as I carefully place the gun on the counter and step back.. "That sir is the most insane policy i have ever heard of, it is unsafe, puts you in a libel position Id guess and in any case completely unacceptable to me that you would forbid a customer from practicing safe gun handling procedures .. DO NOT TOUCH that gun until I am safely outside the shop, as far as Im concerned it is a loaded weapon"

I was told some time later that clerk was let go, and what he was saying/doing was NOT managements position but his own..they simply had told clerks not to let customers dry fire, disassemble any guns, or excessively work the actions on any new guns for sale...

[philip964]

Collectors Firearms in Houston is religious about checking the gun before handing it to you.

When I was a newer Newbie than I am now, I didn't quite understand why, even when I handed it back, they checked again before returning it to the case.

Now I understand better.

I saw Atomic Blonde at the movies this weekend. (Contains violence, sex and nudity) If you accept the premise that a 120lb woman with the proper skills can beat up two much bigger men thugs or policemen while shooting two others at the same time, you will like this movie.

Since she is a spy and is traveling by air to foreign countries, she is unarmed, and must disarm thugs or policemen to have a weapon besides her fists and stiletto shoes. I noticed she is shown constantly peeking at the status of the guns she is acquiring. It was a nice touch.

A touch we should all be doing.

[flechero]

When I was a newer Newbie than I am now, I didn't quite understand why, even when I handed it back, they checked again before returning it to the case.

Yep, that is one of the ways the gun in the video could have been loaded. (and my guess as to what happened, as some sort of sick joke)

[The Annoyed Man]

How did a loaded gun end up in the display counter?

[treadlightly]

The big four rules never take a holiday.

[E.Marquez]

How did a loaded gun end up in the display counter?

AM
There are so many "How did that happen's" in that video it defies logic.

We all "know" to clear a weapon before bringing it to a shop, dealer, friends house, or handing it off to another person.
Yet it happens all the time that there is a round in the chamber of a "empty" gun...HOW??

There is a video floating around of a gun shop that had a large , like 1 gal sized jar on the counter for collected rounds ejected from already "cleared empty" guns brought into the shop. As I remember it, the large jar was over half filled and it was only mid month...