One dead after gun range shooting at ASC in Houston

[Stupid]

Great story.
1. I will never ever let anybody touch my gun BEFORE i verify it's not loaded and the magazine is empty.
2. I'd better stop trusting people on their firearm handling skills - starting with myself.

We were stupid and over confident. I was stupid and over confident. I am human and I will make errors...Knowing this, I can never assume I know everything.

[NcongruNt]

i always seem to go when the older crowd is there so i feel pretty safe.

Unsafe folks come in all ages. I've had an old fella open fire on his target while standing at my 4:30, about 7 yards back from my position.

[srothstein]

What i don't get is why someone feels the need to have a LOADED rifle.

Because an unloaded rifle is called a club. I keep the rifle loaded for the same reason I keep the pistol loaded - in case I need it.

[Stupid]

Rifles often do NOT have the same amount of safety as handguns. On AR15 and M14, if you drop them muzzle down, there's a chance it will fire - correct me if I am wrong.

On AR15, the firing pin is not locked or blocked. Load one round in your mag, close the bolt and unload the round, you will see a dimple on the primer. The safety only blocks the trigger. With enough inertia, the gun will fire - slam fire. They "fixed" this problem by (a) using a lighter firing pin and (b) using a harder primer (CCI400 is recommended for reloading).

I don't car carry rifles with a round in chamber, nor do I load any rifle at home.

What i don't get is why someone feels the need to have a LOADED rifle.

Because an unloaded rifle is called a club. I keep the rifle loaded for the same reason I keep the pistol loaded - in case I need it.

[G.C.Montgomery]

Rifles often do NOT have the same amount of safety as handguns. On AR15 and M14, if you drop them muzzle down, there's a chance it will fire - correct me if I am wrong...

You are wrong but I have to add a caveat explaining why. With respect to traditional sporting rifles and 99.999% of all shotguns, you are correct as their only "safety" blocks the trigger and does nothing to sterilze the rest of the system. The hammer is not blocked in most such systems and the sear can still be tripped, just not by the trigger. There are some exceptions but most sporting arms ARE NOT drop-safe.

With military rifles, the selector/safety typically immobilizes the hammer as well as sterilizes the trigger and sear in MOST systems. The fact that the firing pin floats is of little consequence in the Stoner system (AR15/M4/M16)...If it were, the weapon would fire every time the bolt slammed into battery because the firing-pin strikes the primer under it's own inertia any time you chamber a round. Pull an unfired round from any AR15 chamber and tell me you don't see a ding in the primer. Further, some systems, such as the FAL and M14, retard firing-pins with a spring just as it is in the 1911 and most hammer-fired, military pistols. The reason for the difference is that military small arms, generally are designed to be carried loaded for extended periods of time.