I just heard about a really unfortunate event at Colonial Shooting Academy last week: a Capitol police officer accidentally shot himself in the leg while training.  If you read the linked article, the  CSA employee suggests that the design of the holster may have caused the accident.  I disagree with his opinion - I have several SERPA holsters and I like them very much.   If used properly, the holster release does not put your finger anywhere near the trigger!

The main thing we should learn from this event is that using a holster with a loaded gun, without proper training, is dangerous.  I think many people assume they can buy a holster and intuitively use it safely.  This is a myth.  You should start by learning the proper way to draw (and re-holster) with your chosen rig and then practicing SLOWLY with an unloaded gun.  As you go through the motions ensure you never break the first two rules for safe gun handling (Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, Always keep your finger off the of the trigger until your sights are on target).  Speed with come with practice but should never sacrifice safety.  Drawing from a holster is one of the topics of our Intermediate Defensive Handgun course. 

I was shocked to see the viral video of the FBI agent who accidentally shot someone while dancing in a Denver night club.  This guys has moves but loses his gun while doing a back flip.  Then, he accidentally fires a shot while quickly grabbing the pistol off of the floor.  Thankfully, no one was killed by his shot.

Observations:
1. When carrying a gun, you should always be aware its presence.  This should obviously prevent you from attempting back flips or doing a ninja warrior course.  If you need to do acrobatics while carrying, you should get a level 2 retention holster.
2. This would have been a non-event if the officer had exercised trigger finger discipline.  The second rule of safe gun handling is to "ALWAYS Keep Your Finger Off of the Trigger Until Ready to Shoot."  A gun will only shoot if the trigger is pressed.  This was a stressful situation and the agent wanted to quickly cover-up his mistake.  Unfortunately, he grabbed the gun by the trigger instead of correctly picking it up with his finger off of the trigger.  
​3. I notice that the agent picked up the gun with his left hand but then holsters his gun with his right.  He appears to be a right handed shooter but used his left hand to grab the gun since it was on his left side.  One good take-away for all of us is to practice safe gun handling with our non-dominant hand.   

As a firearms instructor, I hate reading stories of accidental shootings like this one about a graduation gift that went wrong.  Brennan Fields received a gun as a high school graduation gift.  Then he shot and killed his girlfriend while he was showing it to her.  It is time for gun owners to start making safety our #1 priority!  A gun makes an excellent present but should not be given to someone who has not been taught to handle a it safely.  I've posted before about the rules for safe gun handling.  Clearly, Mr. Fields broke all of these.

Gun accidents are caused by:

1. Ignorance. Ignorance is not knowing the correct way to handle a gun safely.  Many people have grown up around guns and shooting with their family but have never been taught how to safely handle a gun.  They've been lucky.  When an accident finally happens to these people, ignorance is the cause because they didn't really know better.  
2. Negligence.  Negligence is knowing the right way to handle a gun but not applying it.  Negligence is worse than ignorance because if an accident happens you'll have no one to blame but yourself.  I've been around many gun owners who know the right way to handle their guns but sometimes are a bit lax on the direction they point their gun or in keeping their finger off of the trigger.  

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I'm not sure which of these was to blame in the case of Mr. Fields, but the lesson is crystal clear.  If you've learned the rules of safe gun handling, ensure you apply them 100% of the time and that those around you do too!  If you don't know the rules of safe gun handling - learn them now!

I recently happened across the YouTube video below.  This video was taken in a classroom and shows a DEA agent who shoots himself in the foot while trying to teach the kids not to play with guns.  Ironic?  Yes.  There are some valuable lessons to learn here though and I recommend you take a minute to watch it.

My first observation is this guy should never be carrying a gun.  His gun handling is so careless it really demonstrates a lack of training.  Just before he shoots himself, he tells the kids "I'm the only one in this room professional enough to handle a gun."  Meanwhile, he breaks all of the rules of safe gun handling!  Rule #1 is to always keep your finger off of the trigger until ready to shoot.  Guns don't shoot by themselves, they only shoot when the trigger is pulled.  If your finger is not on the trigger, you can't accidentally shoot.  Rule #2 is always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction (his foot is not safe).   A safe direction is one in which you could shoot a bullet and no one and nothing is going to get hurt.  There is no safe direction anywhere in that classroom.  Because of that, he never should have unholstered his gun (even if he thought it was unloaded).  When they get out the rifle at the end, notice it is being pointed right at the guy standing against the wall!  This DEA agent is incredibly lucky that he didn't shoot a kid when he shot himself. 

Rule #3 for safe gun handling is to always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.  This rule leads to my second observation, he does not know how to correctly check if the gun is loaded or not.  He pulls back the slide to demonstrate that he has an empty chamber but never removes the magazine (which is loaded).  Once he releases the slide, the gun is loaded.  A proper chamber check for an unloaded gun is executed without a magazine in the gun.  

My third observation and probably most upsetting to me is his poor attitude towards guns.  After he shoots himself and he calms the crowd down a bit, the agent tells the kids:

• "I made a mistake"  
• "See how that accident happened?  It could happen to you and you'll be blown away."
• "Never play with guns.  See how accidents happen - they happen!"

In essence, he's saying that you can't protect yourself against guns.  His opinion is that they are inherently dangerous and if you have one long enough you are going to have an accident and hurt someone.  All of his statements are 100% wrong.  What this video showed was negligence, not an accident.  He handled a gun carelessly and incorrectly and got caught. 

Accidents don't just happen, they are caused by ignorance (not knowing) or negligence (not applying).  I know many people (myself included) that have owned and shot guns their whole lives and never had an accident - not even a close call.  If you haven't been taught how to safely handle guns, please take the time to learn the rules today.

We've all heard the old saying "what goes up, must come down."  If you've never thought about this in relation to firearms, the same is true for bullets.  If you shoot a bullet up in the air, it will come down somewhere and often with enough force to kill.  

On New Years Eve 2016, a Texas legislator was hit in the head by a "stray" bullet.  Thankfully he wasn't killed.  In this instance, it is likely the gun owner was shooting his rifle into the air to celebrate the New Year.  This happens far too often.  Many Richmonders will remember 2013 when a seven year old boy was killed with a stray bullet while walking with his father on the 4th of July.    

Neither of these incidents should have ever happened.  The first rule of safe gun handling is to ALWAYS keep your gun pointed in a safe direction.  "Up" is never a safe direction because you cannot guarantee where your bullet will land.

Check out this very interesting Breitbart article about private gun ownership around the world.  The United States has the highest concentration of gun ownership in the world with 112 guns per 100 people.  The next closest is Serbia with only 75 guns per 100 people.  That is a pretty huge difference!

The second part of the article then lists the top ten countries for gun violence and U.S. didn't even make the list.  The obvious conclusion is that more guns does NOT equate to more crime.  Guns save lives!

Today, on Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for the strong history of gun ownership in America and that we have the right to carry a firearm for self protection.  

Saw this news story a while back about a 19 year man in Arizona who accidentally shot and killed an acquaintance while (apparently) trying to wake him up.  

The first and most obvious observation that I have here is that Mr. Thomas was breaking all three of the NRA rules for safe gun handling.  The rules are:

1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
3. Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

These rules work together to ensure safety while handling and using guns.  It is my privilege to teach and enforce these rules with every class.  I want every gun owner to apply them every time they handle a gun.   

Some additional thoughts:

• Mr. Thomas thought the gun was unloaded.  Notice that each rule starts with "always."  Clearly, he should still not have pointed the gun at his friend, even if the gun was unloaded.  When he unloaded his gun, he should have checked the chamber to ensure it was in the condition he expected.  We teach our shooters to complete a chamber check whenever loading or unloading their gun.  
  
• The story says that Mr. Thomas is a competitive shooter.  It is hard to believe that a competitive shooter wouldn't learn and apply the basic rules of safe gun handling.
• Ultimately, this shooting was "negligent", not "accidental".  It is every gun owner's responsibility to learn and apply the rules.  Not applying the rules is negligence.