I made a firearms safety mistake..
Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:01 pm
Okay so yesterday I met up with forum member 2/327 at a handy location and purchased the Glock model 19 he just listed as sold. Nice meeting him, the gun is a good shooter, etc. However, during the transaction, I made a safe handling blunder, and it's bothered me since. Read along and let's make this a teachable moment.
He handed me an open, empty firearm, magazine removed, with muzzle in a safe direction. I took the gun and reconfirmed that status. I wanted to do a quick functioning check. As one of the last items, I wanted to try the trigger pull, just so ascertain that it indeed worked. We were in the side parking lot of a big box store, didn't want to sweep the gun around. Mr. 2/327 was driving a pickup truck, so I used the bed of same as muzzle direction for the trigger check. Pointed the muzzle somewhat downward.Totally unbeknownst to me, because of tinted windows and my lack of looking close, some of his family was in the vehicle. Only after we'd shaken hands and were getting ready to part ways did I have any inkling of that.
Now, I'm not exactly beating myself up over this, but am kinda upset over the mistake, and asap yesterday sent 2/327 a serious apology via PM. By the way, I don't hold 2/327 responsible for what I did, it was done before he even could have said anything. But, in spite of the muzzle not being pointed directly AT anyone, and the fact that both of us had triple checked the gun, that's still not good enough in my book. And yes, I know that if I'd asked to take the gun apart, one of the initial steps with a Glock is to pull the dang trigger. The trigger check could have been skipped, or I could likely have found a better direction, maybe even at my own vehicle, nobody was in it and it's nine years old.
I only have one other thing to say in my own "defense": As 2/327 stated in the for sale thread, part of reason for sale was to get his wife's car fixed, which he had collided with recently. As it happens, he told me the pickup I muzzled was about to be totaled out by the insurance company anyhow, so..
Okay, back to serious: More than a few of us have made these face to face sales, and more likely than not the location wasn't handy to a range or makeshift backstop. Just always think and practice 'safety, safety, and more safety!'.
He handed me an open, empty firearm, magazine removed, with muzzle in a safe direction. I took the gun and reconfirmed that status. I wanted to do a quick functioning check. As one of the last items, I wanted to try the trigger pull, just so ascertain that it indeed worked. We were in the side parking lot of a big box store, didn't want to sweep the gun around. Mr. 2/327 was driving a pickup truck, so I used the bed of same as muzzle direction for the trigger check. Pointed the muzzle somewhat downward.Totally unbeknownst to me, because of tinted windows and my lack of looking close, some of his family was in the vehicle. Only after we'd shaken hands and were getting ready to part ways did I have any inkling of that.
Now, I'm not exactly beating myself up over this, but am kinda upset over the mistake, and asap yesterday sent 2/327 a serious apology via PM. By the way, I don't hold 2/327 responsible for what I did, it was done before he even could have said anything. But, in spite of the muzzle not being pointed directly AT anyone, and the fact that both of us had triple checked the gun, that's still not good enough in my book. And yes, I know that if I'd asked to take the gun apart, one of the initial steps with a Glock is to pull the dang trigger. The trigger check could have been skipped, or I could likely have found a better direction, maybe even at my own vehicle, nobody was in it and it's nine years old.
I only have one other thing to say in my own "defense": As 2/327 stated in the for sale thread, part of reason for sale was to get his wife's car fixed, which he had collided with recently. As it happens, he told me the pickup I muzzled was about to be totaled out by the insurance company anyhow, so..
Okay, back to serious: More than a few of us have made these face to face sales, and more likely than not the location wasn't handy to a range or makeshift backstop. Just always think and practice 'safety, safety, and more safety!'.