I’ve never handled a handgun in my life. Let’s say there’s some kind of emergency situation where I suddenly come into possession of an unfamiliar (yet probably common) handgun.
Let’s say it’s a semi-automatic and I want to make it temporarily safe as quickly as possible by removing the magazine and any chambered rounds. Where will I find the magazine release? Obviously, it’s different on every weapon, but I believe there’s some degree of standardization, right? Secondary questions: can I just pop out the magazine and rack the slide, and I’ll be good? Do most semi-autos have a similar slide? Does that work like it does in the movies?
Let’s say I really need to shoot something, but I’m worried the safety might be on. Where is the safety likely to be? Again, I know it’ll be different on every gun, but there is standardization in this as well, right? Once I’ve located the safety, how do I tell whether it’s engaged? How do I disengage it?
Just how standardized are the mechanisms discussed above? If I don’t see them where I expect them, where else should I look?
I don’t have time for a full gun safety course, since this guy has woken up and is now coming at me with a knife, but is there anything else I should know?
In this case you point gun at assailant and pull the trigger. With any luck the criminal you just took the gun away from had the safety off. Also, pull trigger multiple times to ensure the removal of the scumbag from the gene pool.
As far as I can recall, most of the safeties (sp?) on hanguns are usually near the the trigger and denoted by a red or green dot to indicate the mode the safety is now in. If you pull the trigger and nothing happens you can always use the gun to beat the snot out of him.
But in reality it is probably best to comply with the commands of someone who is holding a gun on you. The risk level is quite high in attempting to wrestle a gun from someone. Also, if you are holding someone at gun point, do yourself a favor and don’t stand 2ft from them. You have a gun, stand far enough away so that you don’t become the one with the gun trained on him.
You are screwed. I’m familiar with a reasonably broad range of them, and there isn’t enough standardization to allow me to do better than guess when I encounter a new one.
If you’ve never handled a handgun, then the solution is quite simple: throw the gun far away or into an inaccessible place. Throw it into bushes, under a couch, into a pool - whatever seems convenient.
Why not just shoot the bad guy? For one, plenty of people - even some who’ve practiced with guns - either freeze up entirely or are shaking so much that they can’t shoot straight. Somewhere out there on YouTube is a video of a guy who misses six times in a row from a distance of across the cashier’s counter (three feet, say). All those missed shots create chances of hitting other people, possibly including your family.
In the meantime, I’d encourage spending an afternoon at a shooting range. I feel like shooting is one of those basic skills everyone should know a little bit about.
i’ve participated in a shooting course wherein one encounters an “unknown weapon” and is obliged to use it. the rule is to take out the magazine, rack the slide, make sure the chamber is first emptied, and then test the safeties.
of course the above assumes a completely unknown weapon. if it’s a pistol i’m familiar with, i’ll still test for ammo, chambering and safety. if you two are rolling in the back alley trash, bludgeon him with it.
If you wrestled the gun away from the assailant you may be stronger than he is. Throw the gun away and beat him up. Run away with the gun. Pistol whip him and then run. You don’t know anything about guns except how to pull a trigger. Point the gun at his chest and pull the trigger multiple times before any of the above. You might get lucky.
First off: IANAPO or employed in any capacity or area of Law Enforcement, nor am I a qualified firearms / weapons instructor.
I AM sufficiently knowlegeable about a very wide range of firearms, enough so, that I am very confident that I can pick up any modern civilian (and probably, most of the currently used military) firearm(s) and use it proficiently and safely.
obbn
This is actually a pretty good idea for a couple of different reasons, (1)Your first shot may only “wing” the bad guy and not do enough damage to insure that (s)he is no longer a threat. (2) Or worse yet, you could miss entirely. :eek:
Pull the trigger until it stops going, “BANG”!
At which point, If you have missed altogether or not put the bad guy out of action, then you can (as obbn, so eloquently put it) “use the gun to beat the snot out of him.”
There are two benefits from this course of action. (1)If for some reason you’re overpowered and the bad guy gets the weapon back away from you, there are no longer any bullets in the weapon to be used against YOU. (2)When it comes time to account for your actions, there’s only ONE SIDE to the story, YOURS.
dracoi
Definitely NOT a good idea, IMHO.
dracoi
This is entirely possible. Which is why I feel that this last part is the best part of his post.
dracoi
(bolding mine)
zombywoof
GaryM
Accurate information.
There are indeed a number (not an overwhelming amount though, IMO) of different configurations in regards to the location (or complete lack thereof) of safety mechanisms and magazine releases on semi- automatic handguns.
For that matter, there are some revolvers that have a separate safety mechanism incorporated into their design.
I concur wholeheartedly with what dracoi has already stated, “shooting is one of those basic skills everyone should know a little bit about.”
To add my “two cents worth”, I think that basic firearm instruction and safe handling procedures should be taught at an early age. For one thing, it satisfies that initial curiosity that allchildren are going to have, about guns, besides teaching them the safe and proper manner of handling firearms.
If you wrestled the gun away from someone, you already won. It’s perfectly reasonable to either shoot him or beat the daylights out of him, to make sure the fight stays over. I’d go with bludgeoning, since youre already in grappling range and unfamiliar with how to fire a gun.
Don’t forget the quip! A well-timed quip is essential to the motif. In addition to spending a day at the range, you should consider joining Toastmasters for an afternoon or so to get some good feedback and try out different lines.
Actually, a case could be made that once you’ve wrestled the gun away from him, it’s no longer self-defense to shoot him. Especially if he runs away or cowers in fear. You can only use lethal force if you believe you’re in immediate danger of death or serious injury. If he keeps attacking once you’ve got the gun, you’re probably legally in the clear. If he attempts to end the attack as soon as he loses the gun, you’re on much shakier legal ground. So shoot quick before he realizes he’s unarmed.
The magazine release is a button that’s almost always at the spot where the trigger guard meets the handle (in fact, I’m having trouble thinking of one that has it somewhere else), and a quick press should cause it to drop right out. However, if your oppponent gets the gun back, he’ll just have to slap the magazine back in and he’s back in business. If you want to disable the gun, as soon as you get it, fire it in a “safe” direction, like into the ground a short distance away, and keep pulling the trigger until the slide locks back. Expended bullets can’t be fired again.
If the trigger won’t pull, there’s a safety engaged. Some safeties may be near the trigger, and some may be on or near the slide. Safeties near the trigger tend to be push-button types; if you can see red, it’s ready to fire. Safeties on or near the slide tend to be small levers you can operate with your thumb or index finger, rotating it from say the three o’clock position to the six o’clock position. They’re usually made to be easy to operate while holding the gun in firing position, and once again, if you see red, it’s ready to fire.
If you really want to disable the gun, remove the slide. But that takes quite a bit more technical know-how, isn’t always easy to do on the fly, and varies widely from brand to brand.
And if he’s coming for you, fire for center mass; this is no time to get fancy, just hit him as many times as you can in the largest target area, which you’re most likely to hit. Contrary to what you see in movies, one bullet isn’t necessarily going to stop someone from rushing at you and cutting your throat.
Trying not to repeat too much what has already been written in the thread…
For your 1st question—How to render a semi-auto pistol safe—releasing the magazine and then fully retracting the slide to eject any cartridge in the chamber, is in your case what you want to do. Double check the chamber either visually or by touch to ensure that the cartridge was extracted from the chamber. Rarely, the extractor will fail to remove the cartridge from the chamber when the slide is retracted. For older, European handguns, (Walther’s P-38 comes to mind) the magazine release is at the bottom of the grip, either in front or at the rear of the grip. So, if you don’t see a button or lever (See Ruger P-series) by the trigger, look at the butt. Prepare yourself for a good deal of force to fully retract the slide.
Should you want to fire the pistol instead…many pistols do not have manual safeties. Revolvers and Glocks are some of the more famous types/models that do not. Others have grip safeties, as mentioned by GaryM, and/or a safety lever on either the frame or slide. Often, the safety will show a red dot when ready to fire. In the case of some pistols, the safety lever is a decocking lever that drops the hammer, but does not otherwise block the user from firing the pistol by pulling the trigger. If there is an exposed hammer—there may not be, depending on the pistol’s design—then make sure it is cocked back fully. You may not need to manually cock the hammer. If the pistol has a double-action, this step is superfluous, but it won’t harm someone in the OP’s situation. Trying to pull the trigger on a single-action pistol with the hammer down will harm the OP’s hypothetical shooter, as the pistol won’t fire. After cocking the hammer, get your thumb(s) away from the back of the slide. Hold the pistol firmly. If you need to shoot immediately, then align your sights (focus on the front sight and put it in the middle of the bad guy’s torso), and pull the trigger; the weapon may already be ready to fire, and why waste time? If you don’t hear a bang, then you can go through the next steps in the process.
In the case of a novice needing to use the weapon immediately, I’d recommend performing a clearance drill: “Tap-Rack-Bang” Tap the bottom of the magazine firmly, making sure it is securely seated within the weapon. Rack the slide fully to manually chamber the next cartridge. This will also reset the striker on Glocks and their clones. It should also raise the hammer on single-action pistols. Bang. As above. If the hammer doesn’t fall when you pull the trigger, move the safety to the other position and pull the trigger again.
