I think your post (Coyote Hunter) is reasonable and well-stated. And I am not at all interested in revisiting the horse we so thoroughly beat to a dusty depression already in this thread. That said, I do take issue with this:
"No one has ever been shot with an EMPTY chamber - intentionally OR accidently."
For a couple reasons. First, for a gun handler to assume that they are carrying a "safe" firearm because it's empty can, we know, be a recipe for disaster. I carry chambered and I know, beyond any doubt, that I am carrying a loaded firearm and must act accordingly. Not saying YOU would do this, but it's pretty easy to imagine some bucko being careless because hey, his gun is empty.
As noted in my response to Bricktop above, believing a rifle is unloaded does not make it so. Mistaken beliefs are often contributing factors in a disaster, but the number of people who have been shot with unloaded rifles is exactly ZERO. The number is considerably higher for people who have been shot with rifles mistakenly BELIEVED to be unloaded.
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Second, many gun accidents happen during the loading, unloading, and action-manipulation stages of operation a gun. When you combine the heat of the moment- buck fever- with the necessity to load your firearm, I see potential for problems there that might even completely counterbalance whatever extra safety a guy might achieve by carrying unchambered! It's certainly debateable, at least.
I agree that many accidents occur while loading and unloading firearms, but most that I am aware of have occurred while in camp or at the vehicles, good places to be unloaded in my book. It would be interesting to see actual statistics on this matter.
That said, no one has ever been shot with an unloaded firearm but many have been shot with firearms that have just been loaded. In all such cases human failure is a major contributing factor.
In fact, I cannot think of a situation in which someone has been shot where human failure was not the prime contributing factor. In other words, a case in which proper gun handling technique was followed flawlessly.
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Anyone driving to go hunt in a truck with mud tires is risking himself and everyone else on the highway MORE than if they carried chambered (assuming proper gun handling). A vehicle is the device by far most likely to kill you violently, and by far the most likely device you will operate that could kill someone else violently. So, if you are using mud tires on the freeway (poor wet traction, etc) then... think about that. If you've lifted your truck, for shame! And if you are going 10 mph over the speed limit, don't even bother to tell ANYONE about how they are unsafe carrying hot.
Just my .02. Again. :-)
-jeff
Jeff �
Understand that I am not against carrying hot � I do it often, just as I often carry cold. My contention is simply that loaded chambers are less safe than empty ones. You�re not likely to get killed in your lifted truck with mud tires when you�re parked off the road.
Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!
No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.
