page_title: Gun safety
section_title: Point the muzzle away from non-targets
hierarchical_section_title: Gun safety / Rules and mindset / Point the muzzle away from non-targets
caption_attribution_description: English: SGT Ronald A. Payne (Atlanta, Ga) Squad Leader, Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Mechanized Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, checks a tunnel entrance before entering. This was one of several tunnels found in the Cu Chi, Republic of Vietnam area. This tunnel was found while the company was conducting a search and destroy mission as a part of Operation “Cedar Falls” in the Hobo Woods area.
context_page_description: Gun safety rules and practice recommendations are intended to avoid accidental discharge or negligent discharge, or the consequences of firearm malfunctions. Their purpose is to eliminate or minimize the risks of unintentional death, injury or property damage caused by improper possession, storage or handling of firearms. There were 47,000 unintentional firearm deaths worldwide in 2013.
context_section_description: Also known as muzzle discipline, this rule is intended to minimize the potential damage caused by an unintended discharge.  While the first rule teaches that a firearm must be assumed to be ready to fire, this second rule goes beyond that and says, "Since the firearm might fire, assume that it will and make sure no harm occurs when it does."
  A consequence of this rule is that any kind of playing or "toying" with firearms is prohibited. Playfully pointing firearms at people or other non-targets violates this rule and is possibly an extreme endangerment to life and/or property. To discourage this kind of behavior, the rule is sometimes alternately stated, "Never point a firearm at anything unless you intend to destroy it."
  Two natural "safe" directions to point the muzzle are up (at the sky) and down (at the ground). Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Firing at the ground may result in a ricochet or cause hazardous fragments to be flung at people or objects. Aiming upward eliminates this risk but replaces it with the risk that the bullet may cause damage when it comes down to the ground again. A bullet fired straight up only returns at the terminal velocity of the bullet. However, a bullet fired at an angle not perfectly vertical will retain its spin and ballistic stability on the way down and can attain much more lethal speeds. Several accidents have reportedly been caused by discharging firearms into the air; although the evidence in a few such cases has been disputed, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 43 likely cases of injury from falling bullets during 2004 New Year celebrations in Puerto Rico. It is also possible that the muzzle will inadvertently be pointed at a non-target such as someone's head or an aircraft.
  In cases where the firearm is being handled indoors, up and down may not be safe directions. For example, a bullet fired upward or downward may travel through the ceiling, floor and plenum between adjacent floors of a multi-story building. In indoor areas where firearms will be handled often, a suitably safe direction should be designated. Firing ranges often designate a direction in which it is safe to point a firearm; almost universally this is downrange into a backstop which is designed to contain bullets and eliminate potential ricochets. In armories or other areas where weapons must be handled, a container filled with sand known as a "clearing barrel" or "clearing can" is often used for this purpose; bullets unintentionally discharged into the barrel will be safely stopped and contained by the sand.
caption: An example of not following the proper trigger discipline (the soldier's finger is on the trigger); the pistol could also be pointed in the direction of non-targets
exif: {"Image SubfileType": "Full-resolution Image", "Image ImageWidth": "6000", "Image ImageLength": "6042", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D800E", "Image StripOffsets": "34168", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image RowsPerStrip": "6042", "Image StripByteCounts": "108756000", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2015:01:16 15:52:18", "Image Artist": "Joe McCary", "Image Rating": "0", "Image Tag 0x4749": "0", "Image Copyright": "2015 Photo Response 301-529-7119", "Image ExifOffset": "2548", "Image XPComment": "[67, 0, 97, 0, 108, 0, 108, 0, 32, 0, 43, 0, 49, 0, 32, 0, 51, 0, 48, 0, 49, 0, 45, 0, 53, 0, 50, 0, 57, 0, 45, 0, 55, 0, 49, 0, 49, 0, 57, 0, 0, 0]", "Image XPAuthor": "Joe McCary", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:01:16 15:05:07", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:01:16 15:05:07", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "870723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1/6", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "7/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "70", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "70", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "60", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}