Hi Mary Anne,

I’ve said before, there is no such thing as a gun “accident.”

There are safety procedures that must be followed when using and possessing firearms.

There are safety procedures for the operation of just about every piece of machinery you can think of from heavy equipment to lawn mowers and food processors.

My bother is a private pilot and whenever we go up he follows a pre-flight checklist to the letter. It’ll be 9 o’clock in the evening when the airport is pretty much closed with not a soul in site and he’ll yell, “CLEAR!” out the window every time every time before starting the engine. We practice touch and go landings at different airports and every time we run though a pre-landing sequence that includes checking the seatbelt and door latches. After doing this so many times in one evening its starts to seem a little silly. It’s at this point where familiarity starts to breed carelessness. It’s that one time when you don’t follow procedure that’s going to hurt or kill you.

I have a friend, “Big mike” who I respect, not just because he’s so damn big, but also because he has an incredible knowledge and collection of firearms. A true “gun nut”. Well, two years ago Mike was sitting in his Lazy Boy watch TV inspecting his Glock. He racked it back and the slide slipped out of his grip. The bullet entered his leg about mid-thigh and exited his knee. Mike walks with a limp today. The rest of his friends and I were astounded that this type of “accident” could happen to someone with Mike’s background. It was mikes familiarity with this particular handgun, repeating an action that he had done successfully thousands of times under safer conditions (standing, muzzle pointed in a safe direction) that lead to his injury.

I’m not trying to make an excuse for the guy whose dog shot him. It’s just a reminder that some safety procedures must become ingrained and automatic. Gun safety needs to be taught in such a way that little thinking is required. The focus should be more towards a “situational awareness”.