Gun safety is the study and practice of using, transporting, storing and disposing of firearms and ammunition, including the training of gun users, the design of weapons, and formal and informal regulation of gun production, distribution, and usage, for the purpose of avoiding unintentional injury, illness, or death. This includes mishaps like accidental discharge, negligent discharge, and firearm malfunctions, as well as secondary risks like hearing loss, lead poisoning from bullets, and pollution from other hazardous materials in propellants and cartridges. There were 47,000 unintentional firearm deaths worldwide in 2013.
Gun laws and policies, collectively referred to as firearms regulation or gun control, regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of small arms by civilians. Laws of some countries may afford civilians a right to keep and bear arms, and have more liberal gun laws than neighboring jurisdictions. Countries that regulate access to firearms will typically restrict access to certain categories of firearms and then restrict the categories of persons who may be granted a license for access to such firearms. There may be separate licenses for hunting, sport shooting, self-defense, collecting, and concealed carry, with different sets of requirements, permissions, and responsibilities.
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms and bows/crossbows.
The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), founded in 1996, is an organization based in Bogata, Texas, that has created a shooting sport based on defensive pistol techniques, using equipment including full-charge service ammunition to solve simulated "real world" self-defense scenarios. Shooters competing in defensive pistol events are required to use practical handguns and holsters that are deemed suitable for self-defense use and concealment garment that can conceal the handgun from view of bystanders.
Firearms regulation in Finland incorporates the political and regulatory aspects of firearms usage in the country. Both hunting and shooting sports are common hobbies. There are approximately 300,000 people with hunting permits, and 34,000 people belong to sport shooting clubs. Over 1,500 people are licensed weapons collectors. Additionally, many reservists practice their skills using their own semi-automatic rifles and pistols after the military service.
A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by military or law enforcement agencies, though the majority of ranges are privately owned by civilians and sporting clubs and cater mostly to recreational shooters. Each facility is typically overseen by one or more supervisory personnel, variously called a range master or "Range Safety Officer" (RSO) in the United States, or a range conducting officer (RCO) in the United Kingdom. Supervisory personnel are responsible for ensuring that all weapon safety rules and relevant government regulations are followed at all times.
Practical shooting, also known as dynamic shooting or action shooting, is a set of shooting sports where the competitors try to unite the three principles of precision, power, and speed, by using a firearm of a certain minimum power factor to score as many points as possible during the shortest amount of time. While scoring systems vary between organizations, each measures the time of which the course is completed, with penalties for inaccurate shooting. The courses are called "stages", and are shot individually by the shooters. Usually the shooter must move and shoot from several positions, fire under or over obstacles and in other unfamiliar positions. There are no standard exercises or set arrangement of the targets, and the courses are often designed so that the shooter must be inventive, and therefore the solutions of exercises sometimes varies between shooters.
The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) is the world's largest shooting sport association, and the largest and oldest within practical shooting. Founded in 1976, the IPSC nowadays affiliates over 100 regions from Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania. Competitions are held with pistol, revolver, rifle, and shotgun, and the competitors are divided into different divisions based on firearm and equipment features. While everyone in a division competes in the Overall category, there are also separate awards for the categories Lady, Super Junior, Junior, Senior, and Super Senior.
There are shooting ranges in the United States open to the public, both indoor and outdoor. Either privately owned firearms or those rented from the shooting range may be used, depending on the range rules set by the owner. Some ranges rent their own handguns and provide instruction in use of rental guns at shooting ranges by a range master or similar individual to help one to easily learn use of any rental firearm in just a few minutes. Major tourist destinations in gun-friendly U.S. States have such "rental ranges" to cater to the domestic and international tourists that want to try their hand at the shooting sports. Each shooting range facility in the United States is typically overseen by one or more range masters to ensure gun safety rules are always stringently followed.
The possession and acquisition licence is the primary firearms licence under Canadian firearms laws. The PAL is the only licence issued to new adult firearms licence applicants in Canada; it is both required and the only permissible document for a person to acquire or permanently import a firearm. Applicants for a PAL must be 18 years of age or older.
Overpressure ammunition, commonly designated as +P or +P+, is small arms ammunition that has been loaded to produce a higher internal pressure when fired than is standard for ammunition of its caliber, but less than the pressures generated by a proof round. This is done typically to produce rounds with a higher muzzle velocity and stopping power, such as ammunition used for defensive or hunting purposes. Because of this, +P ammunition is typically found in handgun calibers which might be used for defensive purposes.
The United States Practical Shooting Association(USPSA) is the national governing body of practical shooting in the United States under the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC). Its over 35,000 active members and over 500 affiliated clubs make USPSA the largest practical shooting organization in the United States and the second largest region within IPSC after the Russian Federation of Practical Shooting. USPSA publishes a monthly member magazine called Front Sight.
The 9×25mm Dillon is a pistol wildcat cartridge developed for use in USPSA/IPSC Open guns. The cartridge is made by necking down a 10mm Auto case to 9 mm.
Power Factor (PF) in practical shooting competitions refers to a ranking system used to reward cartridges with more recoil. Power factor is a measure of the momentum of the bullet, which to some degree reflect the recoil impulse from the firearm onto the shooter.
A firearm malfunction is the failure of a firearm to operate as intended for causes other than user error. Malfunctions range from temporary and relatively safe situations, such as a casing that did not eject, to potentially dangerous occurrences that may permanently damage the gun and cause injury or death. Improper handling of certain types of malfunctions can be very dangerous. Following gun safety rules can prevent firearm malfunctions, and limit the damage inflicted by them if they do occur. Many versions of safety rules exist, but all of them tend to lean toward universal principles. Proper cleaning and maintenance of a firearm play a big role in preventing malfunctions.
Dynamic Sports Shooting Norway (DSSN), NorwegianDynamisk Sportsskyting Norge (DSSN), is the Norwegian association for practical shooting under the International Practical Shooting Confederation. It was constituted in 1979 as Norges Forbund for Praktisk Skyting (NFPS), and changed its name to Dynamisk Sportsskyting Norge in 2013.
Multigun, Multi Gun or Multi-Gun, often also called 2-Gun or 3-Gun depending on the types of firearms used, are practical shooting events where each of the stages require the competitor to use a combination of handguns, rifles, and/or shotguns Multigun has a lot in common with ordinary IPSC/ USPSA single gun matches, and matches generally have courses of fire where the shooter must move through different stages and engage targets in a variety of different positions.
Action Air is an airsoft shooting sport based on practical shooting under the International Practical Shooting Confederation. The sport enjoys popularity in countries and areas such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea,and Japan where civilian ownership of real firearms are either illegal or extremely difficult to obtain, but it is also used by some owners of real firearms as an affordable and easily available training tool. Action air is restricted to handgun, and is not included in the IPSC Tournament structure.
The International Range Officers Association (IROA) is a part of International Practical Shooting Confederation with the responsibility to train and certify their own dedicated range officials (referees), who are responsible for conducting matches safely, fair and according to the rules. In addition, each IPSC region have their own National Range Officers Institute (NROI) under the IROA.
Polish law allows modern firearms ownership under Police-issued permit for people who can provide an important reason. Hunting, sport shooting and collection are the most popular reasons and require membership in suitable organizations. Self-defense reason, while allowed, requires a proof of threat to life, health or property and is rarely allowed. Antique firearms or their replicas and some air guns are available without a permit. With approximately 2.5 civilian firearms per 100 people, Poland is the 166th most armed country in the world. Less than 0.6% of citizens have valid firearm permits.
