Are you a gun owner or enthusiast? If so, it’s important that you have all the facts in order to make informed decisions about your practice and hobby. Many myths are swirling around gun ownership, from dry-firing to bug-out bags. Today, we’re going to debunk four of these widespread myths and set the record straight once and for all. In this blog post, we’ll debunk four common gun myths and help set the record straight so that as a responsible shooter, you can make decisions based on sound facts rather than unreliable hearsay.
Transcript
Folks, I’m going to give you a couple minutes to open a new tab, sit down at your keyboard and get ready to be angry. I’m about to debunk four more gun myths that people still believe.
Gun Myth No. 1
Don’t leave rounds in your magazine too long. You’ll wear out the springs! That’s not true. The opposite is more likely true. Taking your rounds in and out of your magazine too often — not at the range but just to have something to do — is what wears out your springs. If you buy factory magazines and not cheap knockoffs, you should have no issue with magazine springs. Understand this, magazine springs when compressed are not moving. What causes stress in metal is movement when it bends back and forth. And the springs keep going up and down and up and down; that’s what wears out your springs. They will not take a set. You can leave them filled. It will be fine.
Gun Myth No. 2
Bug-out bags are for doomsday preppers and worriers. Well, maybe before 9/11 you could make this argument but certainly not now. Consider the value of having a bug-out bag in your car, at your office or worksite, and certainly in your home. Fill it with the contents of your everyday carry bag except times ten and on steroids. You will need enough water, food, cash, toilet paper, toiletries, guns, ammunition, knives, a heat source, shelter resources to keep you and your family safe and protected for at least a week. It’s not only bad guys storming your walls, but also weather incidents, wildfires and other things that can put you on the run and make you have to get out of your house. Stop putting this on your all get around to it list and make it happen now. Be prepared.
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Gun Myth No. 3
If a law enforcement officer is in danger, he or she will want you to help him or her with your gun. Well, maybe or maybe not. There’s no hard and fast rule on when to help a law enforcement officer struggling with an armed, mentally ill or intoxicated subject and when to simply be a good witness and wait for more officers to arrive. We’ve all seen the stories on the internet in which a law-abiding citizen with a concealed carry permit has intervened and saved the lives of cops. Those cops were in grave danger. Those are both phenomenal and rare. It’s better to be asked for help when you can first quickly and safely tell the cop without distracting him or her during the fight that you’re armed and can provide help. In a situation in which it’s obvious the cop is about to be murdered or disabled and will thereby welcome the help, you may have to act differently. Otherwise, stand by and don’t get involved unless the officer asks for help.
Gun Myth No. 4
Dry-fire training can damage your gun. Certainly always check your owner’s manual, but unless your manufacturer of that particular handgun advises you not to dry-fire your gun, it can save your life. Perfect practice makes for perfect shooting, and you can be safe when you’re dry-firing. And you should do it a lot! At one point, we dry-fired a revolver 50,000 times — it was over 50-000 times — before we had to replace the trigger return spring, which cost us $2.19. That’s a lot of training or dry-firing the revolver. And it didn’t hurt it a bit.
There you have it. Four myths that are now debunked. Comment below and tell me what you think; we’ll talk it out.
