Bloody Fingers. Code properly, damn you.
Is there any other story more specific about who looked into the chamber? The link just says “audience member” and the audience is described as a group of “50 cihldren and adults”. Why is everyone assuming it was a kid?
Also–why would a DEA guy be doing this? Isn’t the ATF more on-topic? I couldn’t tell from the link if this was an “official” presentation, or just something the guy was doing on the side to be helpful.
Finally–is there a reason he needed to have ammunition with him at all? I know just about nothing about guns, would a lack of live ammo be a huge deficiency in a talk like this?
From what I know, any law enforcement agent (especially a Fed) must always be armed while in any official capacity. Even when speaking in a school.
Well, it should be obvious at this point that this was Agent Barney Fife, and you know he’s used to keeping his bullet in his pocket.
Zette, I was taught the same way. I remember a conversation with my father about 20+ years ago that went something like this:
Dad: Treat that gun like it’s loaded. Treat all guns that way.
Me: Why? I saw you unload it.
Dad: Doesn’t matter.
Me: But I just saw you do it. I know it’s not loaded. <insert various grumblings about why, it doesn’t make sense>
Dad: Do you want to risk your or my life on whether or not you’re sure? Because if your wrong, it’ll kill one of us, you know. How sure are you?
Me: Umm, OK.
Repeat the last sentence of my dad’s every time we went out shooting. To this day he still feels the need to remind me. Of course, he still tries to help me load a .22 rifle. A .22 ! Guess he thinks I’m still 5 or something. But that’s a topic for another day.
county - I laughed my butt off at that. Thanks. 
No, you’re not being whooshed, you’re just being obtuse. An experienced officer knows when to chamber a round, and therefore does not NEED to keep one in the chamber at all times. The key word is “KEEP”; unless Mr. DEA agent has taken down a dealer moments before giving his little gun-safety demonstration, he hasn’t been in harm’s way all day, and damn right he shouldn’t have a round chambered while giving a talk to the friggin’ Orlando Minority Youth Golf Association. Hell, if speculations on this board are correct, he hasn’t been in harm’s way during this millennium. 
‘Modern’ pistols carried for self-defence use by US civillians and US civillian police are normally carried with a round chambered.
Yet one more reason why a safety demo should not be conducted with your actual service piece, but with one used for that sole purpose. And unless at an actual range, no live ammo anywhere near it.
In this scenario, it may be the agent was convinced that he had previously cleared the gun and was now carrying it with empty chamber for the purpose of this demonstration. And he provided a more effective demonstration of what can go wrong than he had expected…
Shoulda had a guy from the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program giving the demonstration. This thing couldn’t have happened if they’d used the Eddie Eagle method - no guns allowed in the vicinity. That’s the real stupidity here. The kids shouldn’t getting shown how to inspect a gun to determine whether it’s loaded or not. They should be getting taught to leave the damn thing alone and go find a responsible adult immediately. The kids follow that one simple rule, there’s no way they’ll end up getting hurt - or worse.
I just took the Ohio CCW class that’s required prior to application for the license. First thing the day one instructor (who was a state qualified safety instructor for police departments, as well as an NRA qualified safety instructor) said, in addition to the signs plastered everywhere, was “No ammunition in the classroom. If you bring ammo you will be dismissed immediately.” This course, obviously, wasn’t for children and you has to demonstrate that you could safely load and unload handguns of various types to pass. So, while actual guns and gun handling were necessary, there was zero chance of negligent discharge. (Good term, by the way, unclviny. That’s a very apt description. Unless, of course, a gun truly malfunctions. But true malfunctions which result in discharge are so rare, it doesn’t bear speaking of here.)
If, as it has been said here, that this must carry a loaded firearm at all times, then quite simply, he should not have been permitted to give the demonstration. It is inexcusable. But I don’t think he’s the guy who should be fired; it should be whoever came up with this lame “safety” program.
Heh. I missed this sentence. I think it is quite important though to make this comment: Belladona, who says about herself, that she knows next to nothing about guns, shows that she has more common sense about gun safety than the DEA. No, live ammuntion is certainly not necessary to a safety demonstration. It’s a very simple thing to take previously fired cartridges, knock out the primer, fit a new bullet into the casing and crimp it in place.
Again, the idiots who wrote this “safety” program should be fired if using live ammo in part of their normal procedures. If the authors of the program have specified dummy ammo, and the agent was using other that what’s specified, then he should be fired.
Some pistols such as my Ruger P94D do not have a mechanical safety, and therefore it is impossible to turn on. I’m also of the belief that a safety is a good idea, but that it can lead to very bad habits, such as the second question here. People become reliant on the safety and start violating the second rule of firearms. Never point the firearm at anything you do not intend to destroy. So for the first one, it may not have had a mechanical safety (but if it did and he didn’t use it, he’s a dumbass) and the second he broke one of the cardinal laws of firearms safety.
Anyone who thinks that a mechanical safety means that a firearm is ‘safe’ should look all around them at all the mechanical things we have (like cars) and realize how damned often they do not work as they are supposed to.
Nobody should be conducting a firearms safety talk with live ammunition, and certainly shouldn’t be doing it with a carry pistol. This is a very good example of what happens when people break the rules of safe firearms handling.