Gun Pundit points out that it’s continuing to drop. I would point out to the Brady Campaign that this is almost entirely a result of educational effort by gun owners to other gun owners, and did not require their usual prescription of government mandates. Instructors, Match Directors, Range Safety Officers, and various other opinion leaders in shooting have been beating people over the head with Jeff Cooper’s four rules for years, and it’s working. The shooting industry these days also provides lots of options to keep firearms ready for self-defense, but safe from small hands. Also all done without government mandates.
This is a success story that involves shooters taking responsibility for the health of their community, and it’s worked. Perhaps if gun control groups are really interested in lowering death counts, rather than trying to take away our rights, they could work with us to create other such voluntary culture shifting paradigms? I wouldn’t count on it.
Folks looking for excellent training can find it in their area by looking here:
http://www.nrainstructors.org/searchcourse.aspx
Profficient shooters in the NW, with an interest in learning to teach and pass on their heritage could email me about the Instructor Development Workshop at kenmore range in Washington (http://wcwinc.org) in January. -Boyd Kneeland nra.idw@gmail.com
I realized the other day that the 4 rules can be very easily generalized to any power tool. (eureka moment, holding the drill with finger indexed on frame and little voice telling me “Rule 1: The drill is always loaded…)
Perhaps if gun control groups are really interested in lowering death counts, rather than trying to take away our rights, they could work with us to create other such voluntary culture shifting paradigms? I wouldn’t count on it.
Me neither, based on past experience:
http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2009/08/05/nra-skewing-gun-violence-data/
I have “taught” only a few people how to shoot, besides my kids, but I harp on the four rules anywhere anytime guns safety comes up for discussion or I can steer a discussion that way.
Absent a mechanical failure, there is only negligence to explain an “accident” with a firearm, failure to follow one or more of the four rules. That sounds harsh but there is no other choice. And using that word tends to focus the listener…almost a challenge and offensive. Fine with me, the stakes are too high to be polite about it.
Guns are not animate. People are. Not meaning to cause harm does not mean you were not negligent, that you failed in your duty to yourself and others. Same with driving a car, if there are more situations which you cannot control what happens.
Preaching to the choir, sorry about that.
I wonder if quite a bit of the change may also be credited to firearms dealers? It used to be valid to assume that a purchaser, even an obvious first-timer, would have an experienced family member – or friend, neighbor, whatever – to coach them. It is within living memory that High Schools used to have rifle clubs (even Washington DC – go to Shorpy.com and search for pictures of the Girl’s shooting team at a DC High School). That sort of thing is less common, and I suspect dealers now at a minimum have prominently-displayed pamphlets about safety if not a policy of sales personnel offering the names of local clubs and instructors.