I make a motion
I think the four rules of firearm safety should be amended and we should add Rule 5: Never try to catch a dropped gun. Ask Plaxico Burres as well.
Sure, it’s covered by rule three but if you’re quickly trying to stop gravity from working, your booger-hook could end up on the bang-switch. So, the point needs to be emphasized.
All in favor?
August 26th, 2009 at 9:31 am
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve learned to stick my foot out to break the fall of things I’ve dropped. It is effective. It just takes a bit of training to not move your foot away, but towards. Try hacky-sack or soccer to learn.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:42 am
I tend to do the foot thing too, but it’s not good with sharp or heavy objects, so I’m careful when I use it.
Also I’m in favor of the fifth rule and always cite it when teaching new people.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:44 am
All my time around knives and guns has conditioned me to just let stuff fall. I’d hate to try and break the fall of a sharp knife with my tender hoof.
I wouldn’t put it in with the Four Rules, but it’s one of those important corollaries, like “Guns & Booze Don’t Mix”.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:52 am
NRA teaches 10 rules, not 4. A lot of people like to skip: ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
Sure, it has to be reconciled against CCW, but too many people ignore the principle altogether.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Yup, let ’em drop. Ditto with knives and swords. Don Nelson had a sword cleaning post on one of the sword boards. Among his rules were “don’t try to catch it if it falls” and “keep the cats out of the room.”
August 26th, 2009 at 10:25 am
The four rules are all-inclusive. Understanding what Rule 3 means covers this situation. The rules do not need amending. Do you have a recently dinged handgun you’d like to write about 😕
Other than old single action revolvers, will many guns fire if dropped? Is a slightly marred finish worth putting your body in front of a firearm barrel while you grab at it?
I was a Chemist once, and while glassware is expensive most beakers usually contained something that a “foot break” would splatter all over me. I learned to let a dropped beaker fall, and to get out of the splatter zone if possible. Guns might should be treated similarly.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Unless you can catch it on the way down I wouldn’t want to. You could drill with an unloaded gun?
August 26th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Important, but not #5 worthy.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Think of the resulting ding as character.
Character on guns=good. Character on body=bad.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I think Elmer Keith had a good idea when he kept all his guns loaded, all the time.
That way you wouldn’t get into the mindset of thinking “Well, this one’s not really loaded…”
August 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Technically the NRA basic pistol course teaches 3 rules:
1. Always point in a safe direction
2. Don’t touch trigger until ready to fire
3. Keep unloaded until ready to use
Just finished the instructor course so it’s fresh in my mind.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
The “Burris rule” is more like “Don’t carry your weapon without a holster like a gang banging thug.”
August 26th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I love the guys in that thread with their “This wouldn’t happen with a 1911” and “The 1911 has a safety” comments. I love my 1911. But bumping off the safety while fumbling with a falling gun doesn’t seem that unlikely, and if you do succeed in grabbing it, you’d probably be reaching for the grip by instinct.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Mikee, at least some (all? not sure) Bryco/Jennings/etc. guns are not drop-safe. People barely able to afford a bottom of the barrel gun are also not likely to be able to afford a holster.
My favorite warning label remains the one I saw on a Henkels knife package: “Never try to catch a falling knife”
We used to play a lot of darts, and if one bounced all the way back to you, and you caught it, you got a free re-throw.
Ya gotta use your judgement. For a gun, I’d try to get a foot in the way not to break the fall entirely, but to slow it down a bit. A little change in velocity might make the difference between an AD and not firing. A Glock (as in this case) you can let fall unimpeded, with confidence in your safety.
Knives, motorcycles, and chainsaws, I’ll let drop. Screws also . . . trying to catch a screw might result in a screw across the room . . . just watch very carefully to see where it falls.
August 26th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Everyone should practice kicking the falling gun so it lands in your holster. Like ejecting a round to unload your SA, the round should land on one of your pockets, if you don’t have pockets, just catch it in with your teeth. Show some panache.
August 26th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Never drop a gun in the first place. Never try to catch a falling gun that won’t fire if dropped.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I knew it was a Glock even before I read it.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Wasn’t this a song? “Catch a falling gun and put it in your pocket, never let it fall away.”
August 26th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Was the Browning 1935 (Hi-Power) the last pistol to be built with a lanyard ring?
August 26th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Let it drop, just move your foot.
August 26th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
“Was the Browning 1935 (Hi-Power) the last pistol to be built with a lanyard ring?”
The CZ 75 SP-01 I bought a few months ago has a lanyard ring. They’re still around.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Well, the Czechs will drop them deliberately. The British and the French too. But Canadians, Australians, and Poles, (they all have 1935 variants) will not, so I guess my theory does not hold up all that well.
Ok, I’m a xenophobe and a racist and totally ashamed of myself.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I want to know why he takes his gun out of the holster to cook dinner. I wear my gun all the time and I typically only see it when changing pants (and even then it’s still in the holster) or when taking it out for firing practice or cleaning. Cooking dinner? WTF?
“Always keep your gun in the holster unless cooking dinner” is a new one to me. But what about breakfast and lunch?
August 27th, 2009 at 10:15 am
My Beretta 92FS has a lanyard ring.
Tam: “I think Elmer Keith had a good idea when he kept all his guns loaded, all the time.
That way you wouldn’t get into the mindset of thinking ‘Well, this one’s not really loaded…'”
You know what? I generally reject the idea of habits around this stuff. “Generally,” I said. Thinking about it in a largely context of zero-defect performance, I recall that my airplane pre-flights used to sort of look like a routine, but the only routine thing about it was a conscious demand of myself to actively think about every single item in the checklist.
That’s the thing: to keep thinking all the time.
When it comes to things like guns and airplanes — to my mind — every element that can possibly be relegated to unconscious routine is a serious danger. A “mindset” is an abdication of thought, and that’s the worst thing that a human being can come to.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
You MOVE, not make a motion