Recently on a mailing list the topic of gunplay came up. Predictably it was cast in a negative light. Anyway, as someone who gets a real rush out of gunplay and hasn’t killed anyone with a gun (yet) I responded. Then I figured I’d copy my response here.

Soulhuntre: sent Sun 3/16/2003 6:51 PM to the yahoogroup “legalhell”

Well, this discussion usually revolves around two points of view, maybe three, and usually winds up being a contest of credentials in some weird way. So I’m not going to go into it all, though I do have some I’ve been a firearms safety instructor, military marksmanship instructor and I am currently a police tactics instructor. So I know my way around them.

They old adage of “don’t point a gun at anyone your not prepared to kill” is a good one - it is a fine, fine way to reduce accidents in the world and a great basic rule of safety. It is also far from saying that if you point a gun at someone they will die.

I’ll repeat this for legal liability reasons:

Soulhuntre says, don’t point a gun at anyone unless you intend to kill them! If you do any of the stuff I do and someone dies then that’s your problem because I am telling you flat out - don’t do it.”

I love gunplay. I do it loaded and unloaded, usually depending on the firearm and my mood.

Unloaded gunplay is fun - there is a visceral reaction to having a gun pointed at you that is certainly a rush. And, unless you have seriously fucked up your inspection of the weapon, unloaded gunplay is 100% safe from getting someone shot. Bullets do not magically appear in guns

So, while there is some risk due to the human error possibilities in unloaded gunplay those risks in the hands of a competent, careful person are about the same or much less as those in most other forms of edge play. It is, for instance, MUCH less likely that I will fuck up a visual inspection of a firearm than it is that my hand may slip when running a straight razor across someone’s throat.

Loaded gunplay is a SERIOUS rush, and can be done safely with the right weapon. I have a .45 caliber S&W automatic that has two separate safeties and a fairly heavy double action pull. When I play with it loaded 99% of the time the mag is “popped” slightly, the hammer is “down” and the thumb safety is on. In this instance, I would have to make at least three entirely separate mistakes for that weapon to go off; or suffer three separate and simultaneous mechanical failures.

Roughly speaking? There is more chance my submissive will die in a massive building collapse than that those two safeties will fail AND the trigger mechanism fail in such a way as to allow an accidental discharge.

Generally, I do not play loaded with my pistols. They are double action but do not have any mechanical safeties. Thus the trigger pull is the only thing preventing them from firing if loaded.

Mechanically is a modern loaded and safetied gun more dangerous than an unloaded one? Well, we are splitting hairs here - the mechanical answer is “no” not really. Both are impossible to fire.

In almost all cases, the reason someone gets hurt is that someone wasn’t paying attention or made a mistake. From that POV an unloaded gun is safer… as long as the person who inspects it ALSO assumes they made a mistake and still puts the safeties on

Most dangerous? I have played with a weapon that was loaded and with the safeties “off”. Total duration of time that weapon was pointed in an unsafe direction? Mere seconds. My finger was WAY away from the trigger, the sub was immobile and there was no one within 10 feet of me (it was a photo shoot).

Was it risky? Sure. Did it make me nervous? Yeah. Would I recommend it to someone else? Nope. Was it “suicidal”? Hell no.

In order for that weapon to have fired I would have needed to suffer a lack of judgment sufficient to put my finger in the guard and pull that trigger. I would have needed to suffer an attack of physical ineptitude so large as to render me dangerous under almost every circumstance.

The MOST dangerous way to play with a gun? Inspect that it is unloaded and then treat that weapon as if it is safe. That is, I would rather you point a loaded weapon at me with the safeties on and your finger outside the trigger guard than point an “unloaded” weapon at me and pull the trigger.

The loaded, safe gun would require a series of errors… the one you check and now assume is unloaded only needs on, your inspection to have been wrong.

Have I “dropped the hammer” on a gun pointed at a sub? Yes I have. Was it dangerous? That depends on how well the gun was inspected. In my case the guns status of “unloaded” was verified multiple times by multiple people.

It still scared me some to do it

So, while gun experts will disagree on whether a gun might ever be safe enough to use in play I can tell you this - if you aren’t extremely comfortable around guns you shouldn’t even consider it.