This was posted in the duck hunting section a couple years ago. Guys duck hunting in Louisiana, lay the guns in the bed of the mule, dog jumps in, guy shot in thigh. Former LSU football player. Leg amputated.
I don't know why some of you guys make it complex. To me it is simple: Handgun in holster, always loaded. Hunting rifle or shotgun, never loaded unless hunting.

I handle all firearms as though they are loaded and that’s even less complex. That includes not letting a dog step all over it.

If I’m riding around the ranch in my SXS gun is always loaded in case I see a yote or hog. Pointed in safe direction at all times and on safe.

Muzzle and trigger control. Which means it's not in my control if a dog, kid or some other source that could cause it to discharge is around.

I for one never have a live round in the chamber unless I am needing to take a controlled and measured shot. Magazines and clips are at full capacity but chambers are empty.
The excess time it takes to chamber a round I realize puts me at a huge disadvantage to show my quick draw expertise but I will accept that risk for the reduced potential accidents it provides!!!

In my limited experience the M4 is the safest gun you could have. You can literally pound the butt in the ground repeatedly, hard enough to eject live rounds, for a whole magazine without a single round being fired. And in every situation, the standard is to keep the weapon on safe and unchambered. You would not chamber a round until it is literal go time. But guess what? Dudes still have negligent discharges.

The only way to prevent accidents 100% of the time is to treat every weapon like it’s loaded and always keep your weapon pointed in a safe direction at all times.

So you brought up the statistic of deaths. While deaths are supposed to always be reported as are gun shot wounds, other types of accidents not resulting in deaths, even if they result in a trip to the ER won't necessarily get reported. I regularly go through hunting accident reports and while tree stand falls do result in both injuries and deaths, I can't say that I have ever seen either that resulted in the highest amount of either category.

This lawyer would have you believe that most hunting accidents and death are tree stand-related https://www.jeffbrooketeam.com/blog/article/hunting-accident-injuries/ but this summary of IHEA data would indicate that isn't the case, not universally anyway. https://www.targettamers.com/guides/hunting-accident-statistics/

Tree stand safety is a real concern and as gun-related deaths and injuries decline (attributed to hunter's ed classes), tree stand events have seemingly increased (relative). Still, they don't seem to be the number one cause of deaths or injuries, though I suspect a lot of the injuries go unreported. For comparative safe, I have been to the ER two times for hunting-related injuries (both ground falls) of which neither is reported anywhere as a hunting accident except on my hospital admission form. I know of 2 folks how have fallen from blinds and suffered injuries. Neither went to the hospital or even the doctor and so there was no way for those incidents to get reported, assuming if such information would even make it to the various agencies.

I do the exact same thing my friend!

I role heavy every single day, locked and loaded. Never a single problem. OP...sounds like an irresponsible gun owner problem to me.

Exactly. Why is an uncased/un-holstered firearm doing in the back seat with a dog anyway?

How does a dog step on a firearm DEACTIVATE THE SAFETY and manipulate the trigger? I can see the trigger what about the damn safety!

It is negligence on the part of the gun user. A loaded firearm (in proper condition) does NOT fire itself. IF its loaded... utilize the safety and keep your finger or other objects off the trigger.

I've been shooting and handling firearms of all types since I was 12 years old (56 yrs. now) and NEVER had an accident or negligent discharge.

Now I will be the first to say....there are people out there that have no business owning or handling firearms, they are idiots and a danger to themselves and others.
They are often goofballs in other areas of their lives as well. There will always be irresponsible people. But I just don't see the 'guns and vehicles' don't mix angle.

Can we ban dogs? I get the unloaded gun getting into a stand; but many mornings I’m easing into my stand before daylight and I can see deer all over the field, just yards in front, and they can hear a pin drop at 100 yards. So if you pull that AR back and let it slam into the receiver (which most need) most of the deer are gone. Doesn’t apply to you guys hunting tame deer.

My guess is that the gun had a trigger guard side sliding safety like my Remington 870. If the gun was a Rem 870 and was on its left side, the dog could step on the side of the trigger guard and depress the safety into the firing position. Quite possible, the dog's toes are all over the trigger guard and trigger, so the dog is contacting everything at the same time and likely not in a simply unidirectional manner as the dog is probably hopping around all excited. Net result, safety switched to fire and once free, the trigger is free to be depressed.

It may not be that it happened necessarily in one motion, but a couple. It is possible that first the safety was disengaged by the dog one on hop and the gun fired the next time the dog hopped on the gun, which literally could have been almost immediately following the disengagement of the safety.


OR maybe, the safety wasn't engaged, which seems to be the case in some of the other 'dog shoots owner' events. I don't know. I am just putting forth a possible explanation as to how the gun could have gone from OFF safe to FIRE and then fired by a dog stepping on it.

That gun didn't go off by itself. It went off because the owner was negligent.

Absolutely. However, since humans are well known for being negligent, it only makes sense they do their best to avoid creating unnecessary situations where negligence could get them or others killed.

Had an extended family member returned home from a hunt with 12 ga shotgun laying across the front seat of his 53 Chevrolet truck. The seat had a spring poking thru on the passenger side. As he drug the gun across the seat the exposed spring went into the trigger guard & gut shot him point blank.

There's the muzzle discipline topic. He was pointing a chambered shotgun muzzle at himself.

I hope he lived through it.

Anytime I leave town, the Judge goes with me.

Although I have some semi’s, I don’t want to ever wonder if I have it ready to go. And, I never leave a semi loaded. I do not want to take time to assure myself that it is in battery.

I’ve only had to use a short gun once and I’m surprised that I didn’t shoot either my ear my or toe off.

Nope

Fair enough. Cross-bolt safety (if ever on), could be stepped on and released. Bizarre chain of events.....but as you point out, possible.

I've been handling guns for 61 years now and have never injured myself or anyone else with one. I also ALWAYS have a loaded pistol on my hip and a loaded rifle in my mule or Jeep. So it all seems pretty simple to me....

Don't point the gun at anyone or anything you're not willing to destroy
Keep your finger off the trigger unless you are firing the gun
Be sure of your target and what's beyond it
Don't leave guns laying around unattended

If you do these 4 things a loaded gun is no more dangerous than an unloaded gun !!!

I'm also a big fan of having a "system" for what condition a gun is in at a glance.

Exposed hammer semi-autos: Hammer cocked/safety on = Round chambered/Loaded, Hammer down/safety off = Chamber empty/Unloaded
ARs: Safety on/dust cover closed = Round chambered/Loaded, Safety off/dust cover open = Chamber empty/Unloaded

It's obviously more difficult with a striker fired pistol like a Glock

It's pretty basic. Sounds to me as if the guns were not in direct control of a human/secured. If not in my direct control or secured, they should not be loaded.

I carried for 20 years, locked, loaded, ready to go, because of the job.

I don't carry a round in the chamber of any firearm now except when actively controlling the weapon, whatever it is.... rifle, shotgun, or handgun...

I don't carry a round in the chamber of a handgun, unless I am preparing to shoot. As for the "unloaded guns are a stick" crowd, I'll either see the threat in time to load, or avoid the threat. I tend to avoid sketchy situations where I need to draw and fire... I'd rather be safe around wife and family than plan for a quick draw contest.

I've seen more police officers in AD situations, than in quick draw contests. (Zero quick draw contests in my career and experience).

Yep.

Well one thing is clear the hate for Dan is still strong.