A recent event in the news reminds that you should always adhere to the following: 1. A gun is always considered loaded. 2. Never point a gun at anything or anyone unless you intend to shoot. 3. Keep your finger away from the trigger if you handle a gun. 4. If you ever haphazardly come upon a gun; leave it alone. Don’t touch it. If a friend or other person is present and that person starts to pick up the gun, get far away immediately while cautioning against handling the gun as you retreat. Report the location of the gun to a family member, police or responsible adult. The recent event involved a movie set and a tragic outcome when an actor handled a gun and, contrary to belief, it was loaded. A person was shot and killed.
I briefly had two guns when I was young. For hunting and target use. Hunting never took hold for me and within a few years I gave them to a brother who hunted. If you ever get the urge to hunt or shoot you need to get certified in gun safety by a reputable program. Any gun you acquire must be properly stored/secured. I have no desire to keep a gun at our home for safety reasons. I would not now consider doing so without extensive training.
One more caution: When I was in the army I was trained in the use of both rifles and pistols. On occasion I carried a weapon in Vietnam. Except for training I did not fire any weapon in the military. But, I did learn the valuable lesson of all guns are loaded. At the firing range groups would fire at targets from various positions. I assume hundreds of rounds were fired per session. My recollection is that I’d check to be sure the weapon was empty as did my shooting partner and then also by the drill instructor. I’m not positive but I believe there was possibly a count of ammo distributed and shell casings retrieved. At the end we’d all march to our next fun activity. One fine day we were double timing about a quarter mile down the road and a recruit’s rifle fired off a still chambered but overlooked round. (Thankfully into the air!) Believe me the army was very careful but that damn checked and rechecked empty gun was loaded.