30 Nov 98
This is from a friend in the Midwest. He is describing the recent behavior of a typical ācold-range grass-eaterā at a shooting range, trying to make believe he is practicing real defensive shooting skills:
āWhen Goofy stepped up to the line to do a drill (after we all had taken a short break) he said something to the effect that he’d, ābetter chamber a round,ā and then proceeded to unholster his gun and subsequently rack the slide, which, of course, ejected a live round that was already in the chamber… “oops!” (He actually said that).
To tell the truth, it didn’t register until I was driving home. This guy had thought that he had an unloaded gun in his holster all the time that he’d been walking around since the last drill (before we took the break); This curious and doltish behavior is the obvious and annoying product of having been on “cold” ranges on the past. I hope Goofy learned something from the incident. This time, his imprudent habits didnāt cost him his life. Heāll live another day, through no fault of his own!
I guess that stuff about never holstering an empty gun might be a good idea, eh?ā
Lesson: When you give guns to sheep, you have sheep with guns, nothing more
