Air is not a target!

I have talked about this on my radio show many times. It's real when it happens. It happens a lot more than people realize. And when you correct people on the range or in the field for it, you have to listen to a bunch of whining and BS because sometimes untrained, long time shooters are so much smarter than everyone else.

What am I talking about? Raining bullets or less dramatically, bullets falling from the sky. I spoke once of the 5 year old girl in Albuquerque that was hit in the top of the head with a 7.62x39 bullet fired by a yet to be found reveler on New Years Eve quite a few years ago. The Amish girl who was stuck and killed while traveling alone in her horse drawn buggy, minding her own business on a back road in Pennsylvania about 10 years ago or so. She was killed by an oblivious hunter who had "unloaded" his muzzleloader by shooting into the air. There are many, many stories of people being wounded or killed or property damaged from raining bullets. That kind of foolishness resulted in the enactment of Shannon's Law here in Arizona which makes it a felony to randomly shoot firearms up in the air. Shannon Smith was standing in her backyard talking to a friend on the phone in 1999 when a bullet fell from the sky and killed her instantly. 

Any of my students can attest to the fact that in my classes, I am adamant about clearing malfunctions and performing reloads with the muzzle pointing downrange as much as practicable and not up in the air or directed over the impact berm on range. Obviously, close quarters combat or shooting from cover or concealment may bend those rules dramatically but the one constant is... ALWAYS KEEP YOUR WEAPON POINTED IN THE "SAFEST" POSSIBLE DIRECTION! Yes, there are ways to be fast, efficient AND safe!

There was a long and spirited discussion on Kathy Jackson's page a few days ago on this subject. Some very intelligent, responsible comments and a few typical responses from people who are more than likely self-taught and love to impress people on Facebook with their knowledge (or lack of).
With gun safety, many times you only have one chance to do it right. Regardless of the statistics or the odds, it is better to be safe than sorry.
And then this came over my feed to once again concrete my feelings on this...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/a-florida-fisherman-was-…/…

In Liberty, Cope Reynolds (Desertscout)
Southwest Shooting Authority of Arizona
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