What's your definition of, or threshold for, range and gun-handling safety?

[TCinVA]

For example, what's your tolerance level for being swept?

Low. As in I typically say something when it happens. I try the friendly approach at first. If that doesn't work, I try the less friendly approach. If that doesn't work I either involve range staff or, since I'm often at a range where there either is no staff or they are useless, I leave.

The vast majority of the time people who are safety problems in their gun handling do not respond generously to correction. Quite the opposite. Given that they are being morons about a legit safety issue I generally cut my losses rather than invoke a confrontation with an armed idiot.

for sweeping other?

I don't tolerate it. I tend to get pretty pissed off at myself I find that I've even come close.

Is it OK to sweep a foot with an empty gun but not a head with a loaded gun, or what is your in-between?

For the most part I try to handle "empty" guns essentially the same as loaded ones. Pointing a gun at someone is, at the very least, impolite...and so I tend to not do it. In gunstores if I'm handling a firearm I try to do so in the safest direction I can find even though the gun's empty.

I don't really process a difference between a loaded and unloaded gun in terms of how I'm handling them around other people. I just try to observe the trigger finger and muzzle rules whenever I'm handling anything gun-like...including airsoft and SIRT. I was handling SIRT gun in a police officer's office some weeks ago and I was looking down the hall to check the laser's alignment with the sights and out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone approaching. Without conscious thought, my finger left the trigger and the gun came back into a SUL position. That's nice and all, but I try to think deliberately about how I'm handling a firearm, especially if it's supposed to be "unloaded" or I'm around others. I try to take a moment to remind myself that I'm handling a deadly weapon and that my attention needs to be screwed to the end of that muzzle. The autopilot stuff from training is great but I don't want to rely on my autopilot being perfect because I know it's not always perfect.

Do you have a different definition of "swept" than "pointed at"?

I consider moving the muzzle of the firearm in a fashion where the bullet would land in the personal space of another human being to be "pointed at" even if the bullet may not have actually struck them. I have that rule because looking down the muzzle I don't really see much of a difference between having said muzzle pointed at my face versus being pointed near my face. If you're room clearing as a part of a team with long guns, "at" versus "near" matters, but for most purposes I'd argue they are the same.

Do you believe that every range session needs to have a safety brief?

No. If you're with an experienced group that is very familiar with one another and with proper habits then it's not something I worry about. If I went on the range with the staff guys here I would feel no need to go through a range brief because we've been around each other long enough that we know what our rules are, what the 911 plan is in case of emergency, etc.

When not in that very limited environment, though, I do make a point of discussing safety because it's crucial that everyone is on the same page in regards to application of the major safety rules. I'll frequently have more rules (no handling guns off the firing line, etc) when I'm not in that trusted group as a means of avoiding vectors for problem.

I should also mention that the aforementioned "trust" is an objective thing. The people I'm at that level of comfort with would be one of those occasions where I'm on the range with staff (who I generally know pretty well) or SME's like Failure2Stop, SLG, ToddG, SeanM etc...individuals who I know to be exceptionally well trained and whose behavior I've observed over a number of occasions to know how they are going to behave. This is different than being around a group of friends who like guns but who don't have a similar level of training and demonstrated competence with lethal weapons. While I would certainly have any of the members of staff or our SME contingent in my home without a worry, I wouldn't necessarily trust a number of people that I would welcome in my home to be switched on when it comes time to handle firearms...if that makes sense.

[Simms65]

Working both at a gun shop and a range I have had my fair share of guns pointed at me.

At the shop when I hand a gun to a customer if they point it at me they initially get gentle correction, because I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and I know I just cleared to the gun. If they continue I will and have taken the gun away and refused them service for being a moron.

At the range I have very little tolerance for ignorance. I have yelled at people many times. Thankfully I have never had to kick someone off my range. I've had to get pretty mean at other public ranges though. I have informed people none too politely that "You can assure me your gun is unloaded all you like, however you can be damn sure that mine is loaded." That is usually followed by "Keep your hands off it while people are down range" and/or "Do not point it at anyone."

I have accidentally swept people a few times, and each time I have been mortified. I know everyone's done it either accidentally or on purpose but it certainly does not make me feel any better.

[Wendell]

I was in a class where I swept someone with a SIRT and was corrected. They thought the SIRT and blue guns should be treated as regular guns.

I had the same experience while demonstrating the effective (vs. ineffective) use of cover (with a Ring's Bluegun).

[JSGlock34]

Sigh. At the range today, I was going through my drills and chatting with the pleasant fellow in the booth next to me about some of the local competitions, when a family (a father, mother their son, an older teenager) showed up to shoot a SIG P239. About two minutes later, I turned to my right to see the young man wrestling a Hogue slip-on grip onto the SIG. Unfortunately, he was jamming the muzzle of the firearm into his stomach as leverage as he was pulling the grip into place.

I was quite literally stunned watching this transpire until the gentleman in the booth next to me walked over and pointed out that this was an unsafe practice. Not sure if the family would take kindly to his unsolicited advice, I joined him in explaining that we don't point the muzzle at our own abdomen.