I can remember a very, very long time again, my father teaching me to shoot blue rock, and scolding me rather intensely when wasn’t pointing the gun at the ground like he’d told me to do.
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I hear ya, and agree that strict muzzle control ought to be an iron habit, and what Cruz is doing doesn’t send that message. It’s worth discussing in shooting circles because you really can’t overemphasize safety and I think your term “sloppy” is justifiable. And I do not repeat not like a muzzle looking at me ever. But with the action open and the chambers empty it’s not unsafe in itself, and as a longtime news editor I frankly don’t see a story here.
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Wrong. Complacent behavior will kill if you continue to practice bad habits. The only safe habit is to assume every gun is loaded. period.
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I see Cruz carrying like this as either (A) ignorance or (B) a sense of macho bravado.
Knowing Cruz it’s B.
And I agree with the “no story” comment, it’s not like he was swinging a loaded weapon around or somehow creating an unsafe situation.
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I would definitely rethink your role models.
No story here. Move along.
Another one. Libruls getting their panties in a bunch for absolutely no reason.
Fight for the center, people!
This. This is the whole point of “treat every gun as if it’s loaded.” There is one, and only one, way you treat a gun–as if it was loaded and ready to shoot. No matter what. The whole point of that rule is to train you, at the level of muscle memory, to never, ever, ever, ever point the business end of any weapon at something you don’t want to shoot. The whole reason for the rigidity of the rule is to train people to be aware of what’s downrange and not point the barrel at anything they aren’t ready to shoot even when, and especially when, they they “know” can’t possibly fire at the level of muscle memory.
Because thousands of people are killed by guns that the shooter “knew” wasn’t loaded or couldn’t fire every year.
There is just one rule. Not two. Letting yourself ever, ever, ever have a different standard of conduct for a gun you are absolutely, positively “know” can’t possibly fire is how people get killed with guns the shooter ‘knew’ couldn’t fire.
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Hee. Like Ted Cruz would go anywhere without photographers.
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This is a non story since the breech is open on that over and under 20 gauge shot gun. The barrels are empty and even if they had shells in them the gun cannot fire when the breech is open. BUT holding the gun as he is THAT is incorrect. Never ever EVER ignore where the gun is pointed … empty, open or not. So Cruz did break a “rule” a he is cavalier with that gun and far too relaxed. But this is essentially a nonstory.
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Hilarious. So chagrined am I.
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Darr, in your typically sensible way you’ve summed it up. That particular gun at that particular moment, action open and chambers unloaded, will not shoot anyone. But Cruz is not practicing proper muzzle control. It’s obviously not habitual and inflexible. That’s wrong. News story? No.
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Interesting, I had to look this up. I grew up as an East Coast guy calling them “pigeons,” then found in the bird books they were technically known as “rock doves,” and now here’s another term for them. Kind of like the fish mostly known as striped bass, they have a number of local names that can vary within a three hours’ drive.
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We called it blue rock too, despite the fact it was black with an orange top.
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This is embarrassing. I haven’t held a gun in decades but even I know there is nothing wrong with carrying that way. It’s not the best way, but it’s not terrible.
To mock him for this is “ammunition” for the gun nuts and NRA to say the gun control people (which I am one) are just stupid and need never be listened to about guns. This IS a stupid story.
What is dangerous in that video is not the gun. It’s the loaded psycho.
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As far as the way he’s shouldering the gun, yes. it’s a little sloppy, but not actually dangerous. And I doubt it’s by accident. He’s sending exactly the message he wants to send to his target audience – he’s handling the gun safely, but also casually. He wants to be seen as an unapologetic gun lover, carrying his gun in an unapolagetic gun lover way. Any criticism of him for the way he’s carrying it only helps him with his base.
I’m more interested in what he was saying. I think it would be great if they did have at least one debate moderated by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, but only if they also include Alex Jones. The Four Horses’ Asses of the Idiocalypse. Let the voters feast their eyes on that freakfest…landslide time!
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I’m not even a gun person and I can tell he was not ignoring basic gun safety.
I’m gonna threadjack and report that Jack Conway is going down again in Kentucky—wingnut jerkoff Matt Bevin will apparently be the next Kentucky governor. Plucky, any comments?
Unless and until the Democratic Party can figure out a way to get its alleged members to the polls in non-Presidential years, the lives of millions of Americans will continue to deteriorate. I have absolutely no sympathy for those who can’t muster the time and energy that they put into going to the movies to get their asses into the voting booth.
I’m sure Plucky is out GOTV-ing. That is terrible news, it looked like Conway would edge out the whackjob.
It looks like Grimes and others are going to win - which means split tickets. Which means Conway may just be another Coakley.