PSA #1: Shooting Tips

Hi!

My name is Gator Moore.

I enjoy shooting. I think it's a very manly sport, and since I'm trying to become a man, I shoot as much as possible. The first thing to understand when handling a firearm, is safety.

Safety begins with four rules:

1.) All guns are always loaded!

Even though we think a gun might be unloaded, we should always treat a gun the same as if it is loaded, especially when we haven't personally checked. Every year, kids (and adults) die from handling a gun carelessly. If you pretend a gun is always cocked and loaded, you'll treat it with the following three rules:

2.) Never let your barrel cover (point at) anything you don't want to destroy.

Guns shouldn't be pointed at windows, paintings, T'V's, and especially each other, because you are unwilling to destroy those things. Even unloaded guns shouldn't be pointed at these things, as a habit. Instead, point the weapon into something such as a tree stump or a very large, thick block of wood, with nothing special behind or around it. Some manufactures even have kevlar blocks used indoors, so you can point your weapon at something a bullet won't go through if the gun fires. They are very handy to have.

My older brother was being careless with a shotgun, and blew a hole clear through the ceiling! He learned a valuable lesson! (I won't name any names, but he is the one who makes movies, and runs this blog.)

3.) Keep your finger off the trigger, until your sights are on the target

The only way a gun can fire, is if the trigger is pressed. By keeping your finger away from the trigger, you ensure that it won't fire until you are ready to shoot something. Until your sights are lined up correctly on the target, don't touch the trigger.

4.) Be sure of your target (know what it is), and what is around it.

One time, I lined a bunch of targets up on a board in front of the house. I was shooting at them with a BB gun, but whenever I missed (or my BB when straight through the paper) it would hit a big window on our house. When I got all done, I found out I had destroyed the window of the house with little holes. If this had been a real gun, I could have seriously injured someone! So this rule is especially important for you BB shooters that live in the city, make sure you have a good 'backstop' of some type.

That's pretty much all the rules for weapons handling. So go shoot and have fuN! Shooting is a lot of fun, we like to have our friends over and shoot our 'fun targets', like the steel plates.

One word of advice about shooting: protect your eyes and ears. Be sure to wear protective glasses (like David wears in the shop when he's working with power tools) and a headset.

Oh, and just putting the headset on your head doesn't work;

It has to cover your ears. If it's not covering your ears, you'll have an immediate ear ache!



Thanks for reading my guide to shooting! I hope you have a lot of safe, manly fun.

(oh, P.S., shooting is something girls can do too; Reagan doesn't like to shoot as much as me, but she and Kelly and Andrea Reins have gone shooting together before. You can read about that by clicking here.)

God Bless!

~ In Christ, Gator.