WEAPON
HANDLING
AND SAFETY
Weapon handling and safety is a topic that’s talked about often –
but is it practised as regularly? Danny P looks at what airsofters
can learn from how how it is done in the military
W
eapon handling and
safety drills are taught
to every member of
the Armed Forces and
members of the police
force that are trained and qualified to carry
firearms. The thousands of people out there
that own private firearms will also practise
it diligently. These skills and drills are
something that you never forget, as even
the slightest mistake can have deadly and
devastating results.
In the military these drills are called
normal safety precautions (NSPs). These
drills are done as soon as you are handed
a weapon and at periods throughout the
carriage of the weapon until it is handed to
another person or back to the armourer.
020
January 2012
Now you might ask yourself what the
hell this got to do with airsoft. Well, having
spent many years around real firearms, and
now around airsoft, I can tell you it has a lot
to do with airsoft weapons and the players’
attitude in general. Realistic imitation
firearms and imitation firearms only fire
6mm BBs, but just because the projectile
is relatively harmless does not mean it
can’t have life altering consequences if
proper handling and discipline drills are not
followed
How many times have you seen or heard
a negligent discharge (ND) in or around the
Safe Zone? And how often is the response
simply: “Oh, what an arse!” and nothing
more? If that happens in the Armed Forces
the offender is often charged, has pay
docked and in some cases ends up in the
Glass House (military prison in Essex). Why
is it so different in airsoft? Would it be OK if
the BB took someone’s eye out?
I asked this question at a recent event
and was told: “Yeah, but it never happens!”
Really? Well I don’t want to be the first to
test that theory out!
One of the first things I was taught was:
“Never point a weapon at anyone unless
you intend to use it. Now I know that is
”
what we play the game for, and that is
what the sport is all about, but on more
than one occasion I have seen people point
a weapon at someone in jest and pull the
trigger. In military training manuals it says
in bold black letters, ‘THE RIFLE IS N EVER
TO BE POINTED AT ANYONE IN JEST’.