Sorta reminds me of my roomate, we were having a small gathering at my house a few months ago and the discussion turned to firearms. A friend we had over said she had never held or shot one, so I went and got my G22 from the bedroom. Unloaded it, checked the chamber, etc.
I have a rule that I will not tell someone "it's unloaded", they have to properly check it themselves. I also will not accept someone else saying "its unloaded" when handed to me, I check it myself!
Long story short, I demonstrated how to check the chamber and magazine on the Glock for a bullet, let her see the difference between a loaded chamber and unloaded chamber, and a magazine with a bullet in it and without a bullet in it, as well as let her hold the bullet.
After retrieving the bullet, I handed her the weapon and she started looking at it without checking to see if it was loaded, my #1 rule that I had JUST discussed with her! Well, that being said, I mention it, and she has trouble locking the slide back. My idiot roomate grabs the gun and says, "Just do this", and demonstrated his stupidity. He loads the mag, racks the slide, and with his had OVER the ejection port, racks the slide again real quick, explaining that this will clear a round out of the chamber. He then said it is safe to point the firearm in a safe direction and "dry fire it." BANG!!!!
... Thank God it was in a safe direction. I no longer let this moron handle my weapons. My bedroom door is latched shut with a $30 lock when I am not home.
I have a rule that I will not tell someone "it's unloaded", they have to properly check it themselves. I also will not accept someone else saying "its unloaded" when handed to me, I check it myself!
Good practice, however you might want to consider that there are folks out there who
NEVER handled a firearm. Think back to when you first were introduced to firearms. All of the different things to remember, the feelings about something that could cause serious injury or death etc. With that in mind, do you really expect a person handling a firearm for the first time to remember the procedure of how to clear a firearm and make it safe?
Long story short, I demonstrated how to check the chamber and magazine on the Glock for a bullet, let her see the difference between a loaded chamber and unloaded chamber, and a magazine with a bullet in it and without a bullet in it, as well as let her hold the bullet.
It's good that you wanted to educate her on what a "loaded" chamber looks like versus an "unloaded" chamber. It's also great that you wanted her to see and hold an actual
cartridge. Your intentions were good, but in practice were extremely dangerous. I would highly recommend that you invest in a bunch of "snap caps" or "training cartridges". If you don't have any, I'd be happy to send you some if you let me know what caliber(s) you need. When in a "teaching" setting, you want to be sure to secure all live ammo and keep it out of the vicinity where the training is taking place. This greatly reduces the chances of ND incidents. Seriously, PM me if you need the "snap caps" or "training cartridges". BTW, I italicized the word "bullet" because the proper term is "cartridge". Had you loaded the gun with a "bullet", then it would have never gone off. A "bullet" in absence of the case, primer, and powder will not fire out of a firearm.
After retrieving the bullet, I handed her the weapon and she started looking at it without checking to see if it was loaded, my #1 rule that I had JUST discussed with her! Well, that being said, I mention it, and she has trouble locking the slide back. My idiot roomate grabs the gun and says, "Just do this", and demonstrated his stupidity. He loads the mag, racks the slide, and with his had OVER the ejection port, racks the slide again real quick, explaining that this will clear a round out of the chamber. He then said it is safe to point the firearm in a safe direction and "dry fire it." BANG!!!!
As explained earlier, if you didn't have any live ammo in the room, there wouldn't have been a ND. Another thing is that when in a teaching situation, you want to keep the firearm(s), magazine(s), speed loader(s), ammo, etc. under your control. Set up a table or other designated area and set some ground rules. This way you don't have others reaching in and interfering with your training session. BTW, you may want to consider changing your vocabulary and use the word "firearm", "handgun", "gun", "pistol", etc in lieu of the word "weapon". The reason behind this is that the word "weapon" implies that the device is intended for use against other human beings in a "war" or "combat" situation. Refraining from using this word will make dealing with the "anti-gun" types a lot easier.
I'm glad that nobody was injured. It could have turned out a lot worse. YOU were as much at fault in the incident as your roommate. You may believe that your firearms training is "adequate", but believe me when I say that you could always learn something when it comes to firearms safety. I'm a NRA Certified Instructor and pick up little tips and concepts with every class I teach or training session that I attend. I've learned about safety on a several visits to the range.
It's great that you want to educate others and introduce them to firearms. We all have a responsibility to do it safely so that everyone has an enjoyable experience and we don't bring any more negativity to firearms ownership.
gf
