Gun control groups often use the euphemism "gun safety group" to try and convince people that they aren't anything nefarious. They just want safety with firearms and really, who can object to that noble goal?
People don't react well to the word "control" in the Land of the Free, even today, so softening the language up a bit makes a great deal of sense from a marketing perspective, and pushing an idea is as much marketing as anything else.
But the truth is that most of these people don't understand the guns they want to make safer. That's why their attempts to destroy firearms often run afoul of federal law--cutting the barrels simply makes a short-barrelled rifle, thus violating the National Firearms Act--among other issues.
It seems one gun control group's ignorance went beyond a potential violation of the law and could well have resulted in people being hurt.
Earlier this month, a group known as Humanium Metal was participating in a firearm disposal put on by the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. The group was tasked with destroying the guns that had been collected by the group and delivered to the local Old Orchard Beach police department. During the course of the process, traditional rules of gun safety were not respected and a muzzleloader was negligently discharged. Fortunately no people were hit or injured, though two cars were impacted by the shot.
According to the Maine Wire, the incident happened when contractors working for the Main Gun Safety Coalition and the Old Orchard Beach Police Department attempted to saw a loaded black-powder firearm in half. It is speculated that the sparks or heat produced by the sawblade cutting through the barrel ignited the powder charge, resulting in the discharge. Humanium Metal specializes in the safe disposal and "transformation" of firearms into other products.
Muzzleloaders are different from regular guns because there's no easy access to the chamber. You load down the barrel, pack the powder and ball in tight, then set it off in a controlled explosion, sending the projectile down range.
But you don't have a chamber to check to make sure it's unloaded. There is a specific way to check to make sure a muzzleloader is clear, and these guys didn't know what they were doing.
For all their talk of "gun safety," the truth is that they don't know how to safely handle firearms.
This is important because so many of these people have very strong opinions on how you should handle and store firearms. They have a definitive plan that involves telling you to store your gun unloaded, with the ammunition stored separately, and so on.
Unlikely their muzzleloader handling skills, this would actually be safe...so long as you never need your firearm, at least.
Again, they don't understand guns. They don't understand the use of them or anything else, so when they start pushing "safety," it needs to be remembered that these are people who don't know what they're talking about.
These are the so-called experts the media quotes, too. They're the ones who are the go-to voice for the national news agencies to call to get a take on guns and gun policy. They're the ones who tell them that the Supreme Court got it wrong for not universally supporting anti-Second Amendment policies.
The next time one of these "gun safety" groups gets touted for their expertise, though, remember this. No, it was probably not the same group, but what assurances do any of us have that the supposed experts at Giffords or Everytown have better knowledge than these twerps?
Absolutely none.
They don't understand guns. What they understand is that they don't like guns and don't want you to have them.
