Guns, safe handling of

It's been an interesting footnote in the news for the last few months, but American gun sales have been up significantly in 2008 and into 2009. That may make the firearms industry the only one seeing double-digit increases across the entire U.S. economy.

In an article of more immediate use to my American readers than to my fellow Canadians, Ron Beatty offers some useful pointers to first-time buyers of automatic pistols:

So, you've finally chosen your weapon, bought it home, and taken it out of the box. Good for you!

Now, first and foremost, READ THE MANUAL!!!! I don't care how much experience you have, or that you might even have other pistols of the same basic model, READ THE DAMNED MANUAL! There is no way of telling what new "safety" features the pinheads in congress might have mandated, or that the gun manufacturer might have included in an effort to appease them before some new "feature" was legislated into existence. As an example, the Springfield XD45 has a new thumb safety. If you have older models of the same gun, you will need to train yourself to release that safety. Also, many manufacturers have included passive "safeties" which totally lock up the weapon until you use a key to release them. You need to know about these to be able to able to use the weapon.

READ THE DAMNED MANUAL!!!

He also addresses the tendency on the part of some folks who've grown up watching TV and movie gunfights, where incredibly dangerous "techniques" may appear to be normal:

You might think that now you're ready to head to the range, but there is one thing to consider first. If you are new to shooting, I would strongly recommend that you seek professional instruction. This is only your life we're talking about here!

What looks cool and effective on screen may get you and/or innocent bystanders wounded or killed: get some instruction from a real expert, not from TV or from some self-taught yahoo. Guns are dangerous — they're intended to be dangerous — but they should only be dangerous when you need them to be so. Even professionals who handle firearms daily sometimes have accidents . . . inexperienced newcomers who think they know what they're doing are far more likely to have accidents. Get properly trained!