All teachers should learn gun safety
I am writing in response to the May 17 editorial “Gun safety must be constantly stressed.”
I totally agree with the title but disagree with the statement we need more gun laws. We don’t. What we need is to enforce the laws we have.
No law is going to stop gun crime. All it can do is punish after the fact. I had just returned from a seminar taught by the FBI on Thursday when I read your article. The seminar was about Orders of Protection data sheets that are sent in to the computer system which is used for background checks for purchase of firearms, etc.
Anyone with an active order of protection cannot own or posses a firearm. Anyone convicted of domestic violence can never own or possess a firearm. There are several federal and state penalties for violation of these provisions.
Does anyone ever get charged by the feds? Almost never. Why don’t we simply enforce the laws we have and not waste our time adding new laws to the books that won’t be enforced either.
Gun safety must be constantly stressed. I have been a NRA certified instructor for many years. I have taught hunter safety classes for 15 years as a TWRA volunteer. I spend two-and-a-half hours per night for five days and then shoot clay targets on the sixth day.
I encourage the parents to stay with their children. I don’t care if they ever hunt. All I want to do is make sure they are safe around guns. I show, and let the children and parents handle, under my strict supervision, all types of handguns, rifles and shotguns. I show them how to check to see if the firearm is loaded, and if it is, how to safely unload it.
I find many of the mothers lose their fear of firearms after they know how to safely handle the firearm. I would invite anyone who wants instruction in firearm safety to my next class which will be the week after the Warren County Fair. There is no cost. Everything is furnished. All I get is the satisfaction I may have saved someone’s life.
As to the dropped gun, I have had the same training to get a carry permit as the man who dropped the gun. You have to have a TBI background check, pass a written test, complete a class, which they tell you that you can’t carry in certain places (i.e. schools, bars, etc.), and you have to pass a live fire test. This man knew better. Now he may have to pay the consequences.
As to the teacher, she is fortunate to be alive. If this truly was a Colt .45 auto that was loaded and cocked, she was in no danger as a Colt has a grip safety that prevents the firearm from firing unless the hammer lock safety is off, the grip safety depressed and the trigger is pulled at the same time. Thus if she had dropped it, which holding it by one finger is quite possible, it would not have fired.
If, however, this had been some other brand, it may well have fired if dropped or if she touched the trigger. I would strongly advise all teachers to attend a hunter safety class to know how to identify and safely disarm a firearm. The local instructors would be most happy to assist.
Criminals don’t care what the law is and never will. That’s what makes them criminals. We will always have them.
Sincerely,
J. Richard McGregor
Attorney at Law
McMinnville