Unload and Show Clear
Rob PincusDescription
Should you pull the trigger of a gun to show that it is empty? Rob Pincus answers this with an emphatic “No.” In this handgun training video, he demonstrates the procedure he recommends for unloading and showing that a gun is clear.
When Should You Pull the Trigger?
Pull the trigger only when you intend to fire the gun, or in some cases if you have to disassemble the gun after you’re already 100% sure the gun is clear. However, the gun may need to stay unloaded and you need to be able to show the gun is empty. You may have to leave it on a table and walk away from it, or have to take it out of your holster and put it in a box. There is a procedure for making sure the gun is clear. When using self-defense weapons, safety comes first.
Unload and Show Clear
First, remove the magazine, the ammunition source, from the gun. Next, lock the gun open to the rear, and you or anyone can look in the chamber and see that the gun is clear. Leave the gun locked open, and that’s the end of the unload and show clear procedure.
Disassembling the Gun
If you need to pull the trigger as part of the gun’s disassembly procedure, as with some modern striker-fired pistols, once you have unloaded the gun and shown (preferably to someone else) that it is clear, close the gun, continue to point it in a generally safe direction, and pull the trigger so you can disassemble it. This is a purely administrative action, not designed to prove the gun is empty, but something you do only after you firmly believe the gun to be empty.
Don’t pull the trigger just to prove that your gun is empty.
I get questions every now and again on the internet about someone pulling the trigger to show that their gun is clear or prove that their gun is empty. Personally, it's not a practice that I'm a fan of. I don't like the idea that you're pulling the trigger to be sure the gun is empty, not to mention, showing other people that the gun is empty. Pulling a trigger is something that you should do with the intention of firing a gun, or in some cases, if you have to disassemble the gun after you're already 100% sure that the gun is clear. We do have a procedure, however, for making sure that if the gun needs to stay unloaded and you need to be able to show the gun clear, then you'll be able to see other people in the environment or you need to be able to see that the gun is still clear. You're gonna to leave the gun on a table, for example, and walk away from it. You're gonna wear the gun around, take it out of your holster, put it into a box in a public space. Here's what I suggest you do. First thing you're going to do is remove the magazine, remove the ammunition source from the gun. The next thing we're gonna do is lock the gun open to the rear. Now obviously, this is an airsoft training pistol with a Laser Ammo real target conversion kit in here for a laser indicator. But I can certainly look in here and see that there's no ammunition. So I have unloaded the gun, and I have shown it to be clear and I could show it to anybody else that wants to check it out. And that's the end of our unload procedure. When we're in a public space, when we're in a class, we're gonna take a lunch break, for whatever other reasons we need the guns to be unloaded. We're gonna put them down in a box, wear them around our holsters. That's it. We have unloaded and shown clear. Now, if I need to disassemble the gun and I need to pull the trigger to do that with some of the modern striker fired guns, some other guns, then I'm going to go ahead, and once I am sure the gun is clear, hopefully having shown it to someone else, unloaded it and shown someone else that it is clear, then I'm gonna close the gun, continue to point the gun in a generally safe direction, and pull the trigger so that I can disassemble it. If I need to pull down on a take-down lever or anything else I would obviously do that while I'm pulling the trigger. And that is a purely administrative action, not designed to show or prove that the gun is empty, but something I would only do after I firmly believe that the gun was empty. So once again, remove the ammunition source, clear the chamber, leave the gun locked open. That is unloading and showing clear. Don't pull the trigger just to prove your gun is empty.
Good reinforcement of safety practice. Please remeber, "safe direction" is, or isn't. Qualifier like "generally" just confuses the message. Again, thanks for the explanation of why, why not.
What was the name brand airsoft pistol you used in your unload and show clear video. Also what type laser system was it. I’m an instructor and I’m always trying to find better and safer ways to instruct my students. Thanks.
I think that you need a new level added per my LEO friends; Strip the mag, clear the chamber, rack rack rack, visually inspect both the chamber and mag well, then sweep the mag well with your finger. This can then be safely handed to another individual that should perform like exercises as you should always treat a gun as loaded until you verify it is not. Otherwise "Murphy lives on your doorstep". Stay safe.-Frank
At the Academy they added "stick your pinky finger into the chamber" to double emphasize that there is nothing besides your finger in the chamber.
Although I don't disagree with you, in some scenarios the shooter is required to pull the trigger. This is the case in organizations such as IDPA and USPSA. Since I want to play their game, I do as the rules stipulate, with the exception of rimfire guns I use at Steel Challenge. The gun can be damaged by dry firing, so I use chamber flags that go into the chamber a couple inches.