Gun Safety - Bloomington-Normal

Guns are an important part of American history, but they can be dangerous if not used properly. This page is intended for the gun owners and potential gun owners in the Bloomington-Normal area. Gun safety is the most important part of handling a firearm. With solid gun safety fundamentals our community could reduce or eliminate negligent discharges that can lead to injury or even death. It is important to know there are more gun safety rules than what is listed. It is not easy to cover all of them, but the most important rules will be listed. If you think of something to add to these rules please feel free.

I. GENERAL SAFETY

Some basic rules to gun safety are mostly common sense. Firearms are deadly if miss used. Treating them respectfully and knowing how to use them makes them safe. The first rule to gun safety is to always have muzzle awareness. What does muzzle awareness mean? It means never point the weapon at anything you do not wish to destroy. This first rule is complements of Ron Darnall of Darnall’s Gun Works and Ranges.

Whenever you are handed a firearm make sure you visibly and physically clear the weapon. Visually checking it is ok, but to really make sure there is no rounds or foreign objects in the firearm you should use your finger to check the chamber. This rule becomes especially important with long guns. Knowing your weapon or any weapon being handed to you is a must. You should know how the weapon operates and how to PROPERLY clear the weapon. If you do not know how to do these basic steps do not handle the weapon. Ask the person who owns the firearm or the sales associate to show you and explain this to you first. When it comes to safety there is no such thing as a stupid question. As you may have noticed putting emphasis on PROPERLY clearing a firearm is important. If you forget a step to clearing a weapon you could seriously injure or kill someone.

A lot of firearms are cleared in the same manner. First you place the firearm on safe if there is a safety. Then you remove any source of ammunition that is being fed into the firearm. For example a magazine or extra shells in the magazine tube of a shotgun. Next is to lock the slide or bolt to the rear allowing the firearm to eject any possible rounds that may be chambered. With the slide or bolt locked back you can now see into the firearm. Look closely for any rounds or foreign objects then use your finger to feel for any objects. Make sure that there is nothing blocking the barrel. If you have a blockage in the barrel and you try and fire another round the weapon could blow up on you. After you do your visual and physical sweep of the weapon it is now PROPERLY cleared. Some even take it a bit further by pointing the firearm in a safe direction and dry-firing the weapon to make sure there is no rounds left in the weapon.

Another basic safety rule to follow is to always treat every firearm as if it is loaded. This ties into the first rule, but it can be taken a bit further. You never know if any firearm is truly loaded or not until you clear the weapon yourself. So until the weapon is PROPERLY cleared, treat it as if it is loaded.

There is no such thing as an accidental discharge of a firearm. If your firearm fires “accidentally” it is called a negligent discharge. Negligent being the key word here. This shows that you did not follow the proper procedures necessary to safely handle the firearm.

Keep your finger off the trigger at all times until you have acquired your target and are ready to fire. With enough practice this becomes second nature. It is best to take this rule a step further and keep your figure out of the trigger well completely.

The next basic rule is to know your target and what is beyond your target. This rule is very self-explanatory. You need to make sure that if your were to miss your target, or if the round goes through the target, that what it will not hit someone or something that it is not intended to hit.

Don't be these people! Gun Fail Video

II. SAFETY AT HOME

Gun safety at home is very important. This is where your firearms will remain most of the time. Each household is going to have different needs based on their situation. Houses with young children will need more safety than ones with only mature adults. Keeping guns laying around the house is no good. Even though this makes it easier for home defense, the chance of you actually being home to use those weapons is slim. There is a better chance of those weapons being picked up by the person breaking in. There are many ways to lock up your firearms. In the state of Illinois pistols must come with a gun lock. These locks are a great start to making your firearm safe. Keeping your firearms in a locked gun cabinet that is secured to the floor or wall is a preferred way to store your weapons. A room or closet that can be locked is also another good way to protect your firearms. Keep the firearms out of reach and even sight of children. Out of sight out of mind. Little children can’t get into a locked firearm as easily as a teen. If you have a teen in the home with firearms you need to take extra caution. More often than not the child will know about the weapon. With this in mind they need to know gun safety themselves. Keeping the weapons locked up and keeping the keys on you will prevent the teen from using the firearms. There are free gun locks available at the Normal Police Department when they have some in stock. Most gun locks cost $10 or less. If you want to have a weapon for home defense there are many quick access pistol safes on the market. Some have passcode locks and some have biometric locks. The Gun Box is an awesome gun safe. It is a bit pricey, but worth the investment if you have a pistol for home defense. Most sporting goods stores have gun safes available. Dicks is one place in town that will for sure have some, but a trip to Bass Pro Shop may give you a better selection to choose from.

Most people clean their own weapons. This is a good way to get to know your firearm and to know for sure that all the pieces are in safe working order. When cleaning your weapon you must clear your weapon. Make sure that there is no ammunition around when you are cleaning your weapon. The chemicals typically used to clean weapons may get into ammunition and cause your rounds to not fire. Keeping ammunition away from the cleaning of the weapon could also prevent any chance of negligent discharge. When you finish cleaning your weapon make sure you reassemble your weapon properly. After reassembling your weapon you need to do a functions check on your weapon. This will be different for every weapon but, is essential to make sure your weapon is working properly before you put live ammunition into the firearm. Cleaning supplies can be found in many places around town. To name a few, you can go to Wal-Mart, Farm and Fleet, Smileys Sport Shop, Dick's Sporting Goods, and other places similar to these. Darnall's and CI Shooting Sports offer gunsmithing services to repair your weapons. It is a good idea to get older weapons checked before use.

III. SAFETY AT THE RANGE

Range safety is very important. This is where your firearms will be loaded with live rounds. Extreme caution needs to be used on the range. Not only to your own weapon, but to others that may be on the range as well. The first rule on the range is that everyone is a Range Safety. A Range Safety is a job or title given to anyone whom is on the range. This responsibility is placed on every person regardless of age, experience, ext. If you spot anything even slightly unsafe call ceasefire immediately. The hand signal for ceasefire is waving your hand in front of your face with your palm out. Make sure you call out ceasefire loud enough for everyone on the range to hear. If you hear ceasefire immediately put your weapon on safe and repeat ceasefire with the hand signal until everyone on the range has stopped firing and is paying attention.

The next safety rule for the range is to always keep your weapon pointed down range. This will ensure that you do not accidentally “flag” someone by pointing the muzzle of the firearm at them.

Make sure that you use the right ammunition for your firearm. There are many types of ammunition available. It’s important to only feed the weapon ammunition it is rated for. Some calibers of ammunition have different amounts of gunpowder. If your weapon is not rated for the higher power rounds it may explode.

While shooting on a range make sure not to step in front of the firing line. If you need to advance in front of the firing line you must make sure that the line is safe. Make sure that all weapons are clear and no one is handling their firearm. If you want to shoot at a different distance you must ask permission to move the firing line. Everyone on the range must be firing from the same spot. No one should ever be firing in front of or behind the firing line.

To ensure personal protection it is advised that you wear ear protection and eye protection.

Knowing how to clear malfunctions of your firearm correctly and safely is a must. This is not only for your safety, but the safety of others on the range with you. Some people tend to panic when they have a malfunction. This may cause you to handle the weapon in an unsafe manner.

All ranges have different rules. Make sure you read and understand the range rules for the facility you are at. They are set in place for everyone’s protection.

One of Darnall's outdoor ranges.

IV. SAFETY WHILE CARRYING

In Illinois it is legal to concealed carry a pistol with a concealed carry permit. With this permit you are expected to hold yourself to a new standard of safety. This is because you are entrusted to legally carry a weapon that if used improperly could harm someone.

Make sure that you first have insurance in case of any collateral damage that you may cause if you need to use your firearm. A good link to check out is Second Call Defense Insurance. You may also be able to get some liability insurance through your insurance agent.

There have been many accidents involving people shooting themselves while drawing their weapon. Make sure that you wear proper clothing. Draw strings on the bottom of jackets tend to be a problem. They can get caught in the trigger well and as you pull up on the weapon it can cause the weapon to fire.

As previously mentioned, knowing your target and what is beyond is very important. If a round misses the target and hits someone else you will be held responsible.

V. WHERE TO GET TRAINING

In Bloomington, Darnall's offers quality training backed by NRA Instructors. You can find a variety of training classes at Darnall's. They will even help you start up your own home reloading. The staff at Darnall's holds a lot of knowledge and experience in a variety of gun applications.

In Normal the place to go for weapons training is CI Shooting Sports. They offer many courses on pistols. Some other courses that are offered are riffle courses and even a reloading class. There are many different times offered for these classes to fit your needs.

Both of these venues offer concealed carry training. Central Illinois Firearms Training Group is also a great place to get your concealed carry training. They have many years of experience not only with weapons, but as instructors.