Keep Your Finger Off The Trigger

Weapons Handling and Safety 

Safe firearms handling is everyone’s responsibility. An unintended discharge from your weapon is not an accident but negligence instead.

I remember my first meeting with Chris Riedeman, one of the two partners that own Live Free Armory. My simple meet and greet turned into an impromptu job interview. Chris asked me to look over one of his AR-15s and see what I thought. When he passed the AR-15 to me, he had not cleared it nor made it safe. I immediately give it back to him and told him to clear the weapon and lock the bolt back to the rear, before handing it to me. Chris said none of the rifles were loaded. I respectfully told him to hand me a safe weapon or I wouldn’t look at it. He smiled, made the weapon safe, and handed it back to me. I confirmed the weapon was safe and continued our conversation. I learned later that Chris was testing me on my weapons handling and safety.

 It’s Always Negligence

Everyone should agree that firearms handling and safety is of paramount importance and should never be taken lightly. The saying, “It’s the unloaded gun that kills” is very true. I don’t care where you are or who you are with, if the people around you are not observing safe weapons handling procedures, you don’t need to be there.

I have witnessed many a negligent discharge of a firearm over the span of my professional career. Notice I didn’t say accidental discharge. Guns don’t go off by accident; they go off unintentionally by someone’s negligence.

For example, while I was in law enforcement, one of the officers shot his unloaded gun while he was cleaning it. The round barely missed a lieutenant that was cleaning his gun next to him. In another instance, a well-respected SWAT member was performing a press-check on what he knew was a loaded gun and shot himself in the hand. The press check does not involve keeping your finger on the trigger. In yet another instance, an officer who graduated the police academy with me pulled the trigger on his unloaded shotgun and put a hole through the roof of his patrol car on his first day on the job. It’s never an accident and always negligence.

Your Finger is The Ultimate Safety

I have been dealing with firearms since I was eight years old. In that time, I have never, let me say this again, never had a negligent discharge of any firearm. My step-father taught me early-on what experience had taught him; keep your finger out of the trigger until you are ready to shoot! It can’t be any simpler than that. I’m not even going to mention the second half of the equation, which is keeping your weapon on safe until you are ready to shoot as well. However, safety on or safety off doesn’t matter in that your finger is the ultimate safety.

Too many things can go wrong if you keep your finger on the trigger while waiting to shoot. It’s too easy to trip, bump into something, or fall causing you to shoot. The mere act of reaching out with your non-shooting hand and grabbing something, might trigger a sympathetic reaction and force you to close your shooting hand at the same time, firing the weapon as well. Keeping your finger on the trigger is just asking for trouble.

Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger Until You Are Ready To Shoot

There is a very simple solution to this. Keep your finger off the trigger and on the frame (side) of the weapon. By placing your finger that way, when you are ready to shoot, all you do is slide your finger on the trigger and fire when ready. You have probably heard the saying that guns don’t kill people, people do. Firearms are an inanimate object and don’t do anything on their own. Keeping your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to shoot will prevent a tragedy that no one wants to happen.

If you’d like more information or have any questions, feel free to email me at Murgado.a@livefreearmory.com. Please remember that Live Free Armory is here to help you whether you choose to buy from us or not.  We believe that obtaining the right information should always be your first step.