Carroll County Times
1. Treat every gun as if it were loaded;
2. Watch the muzzle, and keep your safety on until it’s time to shoot;
3. Unload your gun when it is not in use and keep the action open;
4. Be sure of your target before you pull the trigger;
5. Never point a gun at anything you don’t want to shoot;
6. Never climb a tree or fence or jump a ditch with a loaded gun;
7. Never pull a gun toward you by the muzzle;
8. Never shoot a bullet at a flat, hard surface, or at water and always be sure of a safe backstop;
9. Store guns and ammunition separately, beyond the reach of children;
10. Never mix gunpowder and alcohol.
This is not brain surgery. You don't need a brain like Stephen Hawking to understand this. This is basic common sense. Even the more commonly cited 4 Rules of Gun Safety contain no secrets. They list common-sense ideas that should go without saying, that should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.
But, unfortunately, incidents happen every day in every city which seem to indicate that some gun owners don't even have the minimum amount of good sense they'd need to operate guns safely and, to make matters worse, they have not learned and followed the Rules or the Commandments.
That's why One Strike You're Out is so important. How else can we identify these unfit gun owners? We can't test them for common sense or basic intelligence, the NRA and gun-rights activists would never allow that. No, unfortunately, we cannot anticipate these things. But, when someone proves themselves to be in violation of the safety rules which should be obvious to anyone, they should lose their gun rights.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
