Four Rules Light Always On!

[Kirk Freeman]

An incident from Michigan demonstrates the potential hazards of loading and unloading guns. Something we do routinely.

Remember this incident when you load and unload. The Four Rules light is always lit.

Remember this at "cold ranges" such as Atterbury, where I was told to load and unload "in the parking lot" with a backstop of someone's car or the road (I walked off the parking lot to find a berm). Keep Rules #2 and #4 in mind as anytime you fiddle with guns, you can have an AD (in distinction to an ND).

Remember this in your own home! Maybe consider a sand barrel/sand bags if you feel the need to unload at home.

At your range, have a "fiddle table" (safety table, what have you) with a big pile of dirt or sand where you can load/unload/fix/fiddle with guns.

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Kalamazoo man at gun-rights picnic at South Haven beach charged after inadvertently firing weapon | Kalamazoo News - - MLive.com

Kalamazoo man at gun-rights picnic at South Haven beach charged after inadvertently firing weapon

By Kalamazoo Gazette staff

September 24, 2009, 11:25AM

By Rex Hall Jr. | Kalamazoo Gazette

SOUTH HAVEN — A Kalamazoo man attending a gun-rights picnic at South Haven’s South Beach has been charged with reckless use of a firearm after his weapon discharged, police said Thursday.

Jonathan Wayne Sager, 28, was unloading his semiautomatic handgun and preparing it for transport after the Sept. 13 picnic when it discharged at 5:44 p.m., said Chief Rod A. Somerlott of the South Haven Police Department.

A warrant authorized Wednesday by the Van Buren County Prosecutor’s Office charged Sager with reckless use of a firearm, which is a misdemeanor, police said.

No one was struck by the bullet.

Somerlott said officers found remnants of the bullet in the parking lot, leading police to conclude the gun was pointed in a downward direction when it was fired.

“Was his intention to fire the gun? No,” Somerlott said. “At least, I don’t believe so.”

However, police said they believe about 150 beachgoers left the area voluntarily after the shot was fired.

Police responded to the area after receiving calls about the gunshot being fired.

They later stopped Sager, who was riding in a friend’s pickup truck, and three friends in the 800 block of LaGrange Street.

At the time of the stop, Somerlott said Sager and his friends told police they were looking for the local police station so they could report the incident.

At the scene of the stop, Sager’s weapon was checked and returned to him and he was allowed to leave, police said.

Sager voluntarily turned himself in Wednesday at Van Buren County District Court following the issuance of a misdemeanor warrant and was later released pending a formal court arraignment, a news release said.

Sager and his friends had attended a picnic on the afternoon of Sept. 13 that was organized by Michigan Open Carry, which promotes awareness of the state law that allows citizens to openly carry a firearm in most places.

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Stay safe. I want to see you on the range . . . with all your parts and all your friends.

Safe gun handling, the life you save, may be your own or a buddy's.