Four principles of safe use of guns

Four Principles of Safe Operation of Firearms and Practical Training

Author: IKMF- Vincent Source: Author contributed 2018-06-1415: 40: 00 Reading: 2 142 times.

Since the standardized course system of light weapons shooting and tactical training, the safety rules of weapon operation have always been a compulsory course in all courses, and it is often the first course. Jeff Cooper, the originator of the actual shooting training course, is based on many years of actual combat and teaching experience.

Since the standardized course system of light weapons shooting and tactical training, the safety rules of weapon operation have always been a compulsory course in all courses, and it is often the first course. Jeff Cooper, the originator of the actual shooting training course, summed up four basic safety rules for weapon operation based on years of actual combat and teaching experience. After decades of development and standardization, these four codes have been followed, disseminated and popularized by practitioners all over the world and become the standards of light weapons training. These four safety rules are:

1. treat all weapons as loaded;

2. Don't aim your weapon at the target you don't want to shoot;

3. When you are not ready to shoot, put your finger outside the trigger holder;

4. Pay attention to the environment before and after the target before deciding to shoot.

According to these four basic rules for the safe operation of firearms, more specific safety norms and disciplines are extended, but the most basic and fundamental safety rules are always the above four rules.

Treat all weapons as loaded;

Treating all weapons as loaded is the basis of all safe operations, the basic attitude of a practitioner involved in the use of weapons, and the ideological attention to weapons safety norms. There is a basic law in actual combat training-how to behave in training will be how to behave in actual combat. Here we can share a case-a policeman practices Majia (a personal defense system in Israel), and one of his skills is to remove the frontal gun threat. The policeman worked very hard and practiced this technique with his partner for tens of thousands of times. In order to make time for each technique, he quickly completed the technique, handed the gun to his partner, and then repeated the practice immediately. One day, the police were really threatened by a gunman when they were patrolling a warehouse. Since then, there has been an incomprehensible scene-the police quickly handed over the other party's gun and gave it back to the other party. The other party shot and killed it. After seeing the surveillance video at the scene, it was difficult for all investigators to understand what the policeman had done.

In fact, the police just did what he usually practiced-handed over the gun and returned it to the other party. It is precisely because of the wrong training mode and the wrong handling behavior that the policeman lost his life. There is a famous behavioral psychology term-tunnel effect, which means that people are highly focused on one thing under pressure and lose the ability to perceive other things, while the thinking mode is solidified. Under the influence of tunnel effect, human beings can only show their most instinctive and accustomed behaviors and thinking. People's police guns are often in such an environment, so when all weapons are regarded as loaded, even blue guns for training should be regarded as loaded weapons that can really fire, which will help to cultivate the habit of using guns safely until the instinct of using guns safely is formed, and will protect the safety of you and your companions when you really use guns. I have seen many gunmen or security officials certified by IPSC, IDPA or other sports organizations pointing blue guns at the surroundings many times. If you ask him, he will casually say, "What does it matter?" This is a fake gun. "Then I can only wish him good luck.

On the other hand, safe operation of weapons is a life attitude because we can know whether a person is a well-trained weapon operator by observing his daily habits. The safe operation of weapons mentioned above is ultimately to form an instinct, which cannot be achieved overnight. I also met actual combat instructors. Let's call him an actual combat instructor. He has little training in weapon operation. In order to go abroad to attend the international seminar of firearms instructors, he strengthened his weapons training one or two months in advance. However, he still made a serious mistake in safety operation on the first day of the seminar and was sent off with a red card. A weapon operator with good habits, you will find that safety habits have penetrated into every detail of his life, playing shooting games with electric drills and video game halls, and using hot melt glue gun ... You will find that he will take out the trigger holder with his index finger without pointing, indicating that safe operation has formed an instinct to blend into the blood. The last three safe operation rules are attached to the first one, and all the weapons are based on loading.

Don't aim your weapon at the target you don't want to shoot.

This code is also called "laser code". Assuming that your gun can emit a laser that can cut off anything, you will never aim your gun at a place where you don't want to shoot. Treating all weapons as loaded is the basis of all safe operations. Laser code is one of the two basic factors to avoid accidental injury of weapons, and the other is the "index finger code" to be mentioned later. Some people like to joke about guns and point them at their friends, colleagues and relatives. Since guns were invented by human beings, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people have died because of this "game".

Not pointing weapons at targets that you don't want to shoot is also in line with the requirements of the Regulations on the Use of Police Equipment by the People's Police and the Operating Rules for the People's Police of Public Security Organs to Stop Illegal and Criminal Acts on the Spot. The use of guns can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense-the narrow sense refers to the act of aiming guns at shooting targets and pulling the trigger to shoot; Broadly speaking, taking a gun out of a holster or raising a gun (mainly a pike) is to use a gun. According to China's laws on the use of weapons, the use of guns is only in a narrow sense. Judging from law enforcement practice, taking the gun out of the holster or raising the weapon may have stopped the criminals' behavior. However, whether in a narrow sense or a broad sense, it is not allowed to point weapons at criminal suspects without constituting the conditions for using guns.

When you are not ready to shoot, put your fingers outside the trigger holder.

"Index finger code" and "laser code" are double insurance to avoid accidental injury in weapon operation. People are suddenly frightened when they are nervous. If their hands are in a semi-closed state, they will suddenly clench their fists. This is a "fight or flight" stress response. Once, a police officer searched a public toilet for a suspect. When he held a gun in his right hand and opened the bathroom compartment with his left hand, suddenly the door of the next compartment closed (it was later confirmed that the wind blew the compartment door). Due to excessive fright, the police officer subconsciously clenched his hands and put his finger on the trigger, successfully hitting his left hand that opened the door. In this case, the police officer violated the index finger law and the laser law. This is also why in the very close armed confrontation, unarmed gunmen either retreat quickly after attacking or defending, or keep as much height difference as possible with the gunmen.

However, there are always some people who like to dictate the basic rules for the safe operation of weapons. Some so-called "masters" who have fired several times in shooting ranges in Thailand and the Philippines think they are masters, and even regard the line in the movie-"My finger is my insurance" as the training rule of special forces, ignoring the safety rule of putting your finger outside the trigger holder. There are also some actual combat instructors affected by it. When training or communicating, they confidently extend their forefinger to tell everyone that this is his insurance. What I want to say is, I hope I don't train or perform tasks with instructors in this field. They think that putting your finger out of the arc of the trigger will slow down the reaction at the moment you receive the enemy. Therefore, some people put forward the practice of "special forces", that is, your index finger is placed in the retainer, but your nails are pressed against the front end inside the retainer. These practices ignore human instinct and overestimate the physical control ability of themselves or trainees under pressure, which can be said to be "movie tactics".

On the other hand, it is not necessarily safe to put your finger outside the trigger guard ring when you are not ready to shoot. At the same time, you should follow the "laser law" because gun failures are so common in daily law enforcement and training. Trust me, your gun will break down one day. Murphy's law was predicted decades ago. The gun situation in China is even more worrying, especially when a large number of policemen are equipped with old Type 64 pistols. The author once went to a police school to teach and happened to organize shooting training. The most terrible problem of the police academy veteran 64 who neglected to maintain it on weekdays is not that it doesn't ring during training, but that it rings randomly. During the training, an a 64 broke down, and the deputy detachment leader of the local special police detachment volunteered to go forward to troubleshoot. The division commander's finger has been placed outside the arc. However, when the stuck sleeve was pulled back, the gun rang and hit his left hand, causing irreparable injuries such as tendon injury of thumb and fracture of thumb and phalanx. There is also a foreign case. The shooting range is organizing shooting training. A student used a Glock pistol, and his finger was always outside the trigger holder. However, after pulling the sleeve, the gun rang, and the student was DQ. Later, watching the replayed video, I found that he completely complied with the gun safety operation rules, and the problem was the gun, not the person. I have experienced this kind of fire accident myself. When testing a new type of police submachine gun, due to the failure of ammunition supply, my colleague unloaded the magazine and pulled back the handle, but the shell hook did not pull out the remaining ammunition in the bore. My colleague put down the gun and tried to make the shell hook hook the lower edge of the bullet again to eliminate it, but unexpectedly, the gun rang. During this process, I can clearly see that my colleague's finger did not extend into the trigger holder. Fortunately, the muzzle pointed in front of the ground wire.

People are unreliable, so we put our fingers outside the trigger holder and the gun is unreliable, so we never aim the gun at the target that we don't want to shoot. Only by combining the two rules can we ensure the safety of weapon operation.

Pay attention to the environment before and after the target before deciding to shoot.

This coding is not only suitable for shooting range training, but also meets the needs of police actual shooting. The police are responsible for every bullet fired, especially when using 95- 1 and other assault rifles. Even if you can hit the target accurately and stop using deadly force immediately after the opponent loses the ability to resist, the 5.8mm rifle bullet may have passed through three walls and killed four innocent people. So is shooting range training. Safety issues should be considered from the beginning of the design and construction of the shooting range, such as whether the height of the bulletproof wall is enough, whether it is necessary to set targets, and what environment is behind the bulletproof wall. These design details are actually the embodiment of the safety code.

When you really raise your gun and put your finger on the trigger, the door of the scope has been leveled, and evaluate the possible damage before and after the target. The same is true of training, which is not only the guarantee of training safety, but also the principle of police using guns. Therefore, the shooting training modes of competitive sports such as IPSC and IDPA are not suitable for police actual combat, but will cultivate the police's wrong habit of using guns and put the police in danger (personal danger or legal risk).

Generally speaking, the four basic principles of safe operation of weapons are not a single dogma. They guide actual combat and training from the aspects of using guns, safety and standardizing law enforcement. No matter what weapons are used or what training is carried out, this is the first lesson that must be mastered.