Dangerous Guns

11 Jan 08

Excellent comments from an Instructor:

"Virtually every fire extinguisher currently manufactured works exactly the same; the inexpensive one in my kitchen, and the professional model carriedon fire trucks. They're all simple to operate, so there is actually some possibility ordinary people, in a panicked state, will be able to make themwork in a beneficial way, and in time for it to do some good. They are designed to be used in an emergency, so they don't come with combination locks nor a tedious, six-step, sequence-critical procedure necessary to get them running!

Thank heaven some audacious gun-makers build handguns in this same spirit. Others display infinitely more dread for the life-saving device they themselves manufacture, than they do for life-threatening event it is created to stop!

We think the foregoing is funny, but, for example, how am I supposed to look upon the credibility and sincerity of a manufacturer of ostensibly defensive pistols who states in the very literature that is supplied with each copy of his product:

'Keep this pistol unloaded at all times... Keep this pistol inaccessible at all times... Never load this pistol at all, until just before you intend to shoot, and unload it immediately after shooting.....' ad nauseam?'

I get the distinct impression, they, like the politicians we all despise, couldn't care less about my life, caring instead only about insulating themselves from litigation.

God forbid I actually use this pistol for its intended purpose!"

Comment: It would be a good deal more helpful, and infinitely less disingenuous, if, in their instructional manuals, manufacturers frankly and openly discussed how to correctly carry and handle a continuously loaded pistol, how to shoot VCAs in a way that ends the fight quickly and permanently, authentic options for storing the pistol safely and yet in an adequate state of readiness, effectively interacting with the criminal/justice system in the aftermath of a defensive shooting, et al. That information would be genuinely helpful, but is all perpetually "subject-non-grata." Writers of instructional manuals prefer instead to hypocritically dance around the real issues.

Guns are dangerous! They have to be, or there would be scant point in ownership, much less in carrying one. Of course, "dangerous," is a relative term. However, WHEN FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE, THE ONLY KIND OF GUN I WANT IS ONE THAT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! The "extremely dangerous" gun I need at the critical moment is, of course, going to be "extremely dangerous" the rest of the day too, so I need to know how to carry, handle, and keep it correctly. That vital information should be supplied, in spades, by manufacturers, but rarely is.

A well-trained trigger finger, a clear mind, and a virtuous and courageous heart are as close to a "safety" as we're ever likely to get. Who are missing any of the above are well advised to pass on gun ownership!

/John