Is it okay to drink while carrying/handling guns?

[Guest confidence]

I was very surprised to see someone on another gun forum which I will not name claim that it was fine for them to drink while "playing" with their gun. This is a person who I respected and was very taken aback.

 

Am I in the minority? Please vote on the poll for this thread and tell us what you think.

 

NOTE: This poll is NOT about the LEGALITY of alcohol and guns. It is ONLY about the ETHICS. In other words, don't vote based on what the law in your area is. Instead, vote based on your personal opinion.

 

I made this a NON-public poll in an attempt to get more participation. This theoretically means that no one can see your actual vote, though if you comment they can see your comment. (duh.)

[Caster]

Not no, but HELL NO!

I drink like a fish and pull off the pistol, set it on top of the safe and before I ever take a drink.
I never drink in public. Ever.

You're gonna get a great deal of argument here, hopefully a peaceful intelligent argument but you asked for an opinion and mine is NEVER and I personally judge anyone who does as lacking in judgment. I don't care what a person THINKS their tolerance for alcohol is.

No. Period. Edited July 12, 2013 by Caster

[tnhawk]

Guns and Alcohol don't mix.  -  isn't this one of the first things we learn when handling firearms?

[Jonnin]

I am a NO guy here.   Too many studies have shown that even small amounts of drugs (booze counts) have observable negative effects on at least some people.  These effects include making poor judgement calls ("watch this"), physical mistakes (clumsiness etc), as well as personality changes (mood, and in some cases, violent or agressive behavioral changes and occasionally suicdal/depressive changes), and more.   It may not have any effect on some folks, or it may not have an effect every time, but the only safe way to be sure and responsible is to simply not mix the two.  

 

You could probably convince me that a person who does the 1 glass of wine daily for health is safe to CCW and drive or bed down after with a gun nearby.  I won't argue that point too hard.  But that is making an exception to the above, and exceptions lead to problems.  "Bob had a glass of wine and kept his gun on, so I can have 2 glasses, or a whiskey, or 4 beers, or ....)  kind of logic follows this.   The only way to be sure, and safe, for everyone, without exception, is to not mix them, and I WILL stand by that.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Jonnin

[tnhawk]

Hold my beer and watch this...

[TMF]

There is a difference between drinking and getting wasted. I have at least a beer or glass of wine each night at dinner, then one or two more with the wife after the kids go to bed. I don't normally carry around the house anyway, but if I did I would not feel as if I'm doing something "ethically" wrong.

Yeah, there are some folks that can't hold their booze or can't have a couple drinks without getting drunk, but those folks should know their limit. I know mine and I don't freak out if I have had a drink or two.

[2.ooohhh]

I only drink when I am disarmed, usually this is a single pour of whisky as a nightcap. Otherwise I generally just don't drink so it's a non-issue.

 

A family member en-grained this into my skull from a very young age. There was a pistol and a flask of whisky sitting on the dresser, I could only choose one. If I chose the pistol I could also have the keys to his car for the night, choose the flask and I was hanging out at home. If I came home on time there would be a single pour of whisky on the dresser where the flask had been for a nightcap after I put the pistol away and returned his keys. If I came home late(only happened once or twice) there was the now empty glass sitting on a note that we would "talk in the morning".

 

My routine hasn't changed much in the last 20 years and I still almost always choose the pistol and the car keys and return home to my nightcap though I have to pour it myself and pay for the whisky these days. :-\

[mikegideon]

If you're inclined to do something stupid with a gun, then you shouldn't have a gun. If you're inclined to do something stupid while you're drinking, then you shouldn't drink. I'm not going to lock my guns away from myself when I open a beer. Never have, and never will. I don't "carry" at home. There's just always something within reach.

 

That's just me. Some folks turn into idiots when they drink. If you need to be restrained, do it.

Edited July 12, 2013 by mikegideon

[xjsnake]

I voted no because I know all too well what people are like who have had only a couple drinks much less many of them as I used to tend bar. Personally I have a hands off policy for my guns once I have a drink in my hand just because it increases the chances of a negligent discharge. 

[RobertNashville]

IMHO, only an idiot would be under the influence of anything while being armed or handling a firearm...doing so is beyond stupid.

 

If I even have a glass of wine or a mixed drink it will be many hours before I would even think of being armed or driving or anything else that can place others at risk.

[Tedro2022]

I'll have a beer while I'm cleaning up from the shooting range, after I make sure the ammo isn't anywhere where it could find its way into the firearm. Crucify me if you want, but I know what I can handle as far as alcohol goes and I know how to safely handle firearms. I don't get trashed and walk around w/ guns. You just have to know yourself and your own limits.


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[mikegideon]

IMHO, only an idiot would be under the influence of anything while being armed or handling a firearm...doing so is beyond stupid.

 

If I even have a glass of wine or a mixed drink it will be many hours before I would even think of being armed or driving or anything else that can place others at risk.

 

So, your trigger discipline goes out the window when you drink? I don't shoot, clean guns, or anything else that requires a lot of focus when I'm drinking. That doesn't mean I'm going to disarm myself as soon as I open a beer. I'm real good at not accidentally pulling a trigger. 30+ years of practice, I guess :)

[RobertNashville]

So, your trigger discipline goes out the window when you drink? I don't shoot, clean guns, or anything else that requires a lot of focus when I'm drinking. That doesn't mean I'm going to disarm myself as soon as I open a beer. I'm real good at not accidentally pulling a trigger. 30+ years of practice, I guess :)

30 years?  You really are an old coot. ;)

 

I just don't do it...I don't drink at all unless I'm either home or someplace where I'm going to be be for a long time (if I drink at all even then).

 

I certainly have firearms available to me in my home since bad guys may not wait until I'm not drinking to bust in but I'm not going to handle or wear a firearm if I'm having a drink.

[monkeylizard]

<<nevermind>>

Edited July 12, 2013 by monkeylizard

[mikegideon]

30 years?  You really are an old coot. ;)

 

I just don't do it...I don't drink at all unless I'm either home or someplace where I'm going to be be for a long time (if I drink at all even then).

 

I certainly have firearms available to me in my home since bad guys may not wait until I'm not drinking to bust in but I'm not going to handle or wear a firearm if I'm having a drink.

 

Experience matters :) I've done a whole lot more drinking than shooting. I don't drink much these days, but still know that I may get clumsy and forgetful, but I don't get stupid. Anyway, the guns stay out, and I don't play with them when I'm drinking. If I ever feel that I have to lock them away, I'll just quit drinking.

[RobertNashville]

I'll have a beer while I'm cleaning up from the shooting range, after I make sure the ammo isn't anywhere where it could find its way into the firearm. Crucify me if you want, but I know what I can handle as far as alcohol goes and I know how to safely handle firearms. I don't get trashed and walk around w/ guns. You just have to know yourself and your own limits.


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Well...just watch out...we all know that even unloaded guns go off completely on their own all the time. :)

[Caster]

No matter what your opinion or practice is, please be careful, mindful at all times and just friggin' pay attention. Keeping your mind on the here and now where it belongs behooves us all, drinking or not.


As for me, one of my favorite songs is also my Modus Operandi: I drink alone. By doing so, even a lapse in my judgement can only hurt me and leave my wife richer when she cashes in my life insurance.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Caster

[jtmaze]

I have got home started grilling, popped a top then go "OH S#!+" put down beer walk into bedroom take off gun and go finish my beer.

[Oh Shoot]

You might have to defend yourself or family sometime even if you're crocked, y'all, so I wouldn't keep the loaded gun too far from the Jim Beam bottle. :)

 

- OS

[mikegideon]

You might have to defend yourself or family sometime even if you're crocked, y'all, so I wouldn't keep the loaded gun too far from the Jim Beam bottle. :)

 

- OS

 

...and, you can be drunker than Cooter Brown and still legally defend yourself with a gun. Like I said, I don't "carry" when I'm at home. Don't see the need. I'm just certain that I can keep a gun from discharging, even when I'm totally shitfaced.

[Oh Shoot]

...and, you can be drunker than Cooter Brown and still legally defend yourself with a gun.

 

Wow, I haven't heard that since the internet began, cool:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooter_Brown

 

- OS

[enfield]

In general it's a bad idea, IMO.

[JAB]

I have all but stopped drinking when I am out 'in public'.  For one thing, I'd rather legally carry my handgun in public than legally drink a beer in public so since I am usually carrying, the decision of whether or not to drink in a public place is rendered moot.  Honestly, though, part of the reason is monetary.  I can buy a sixpack of decent beer for just about the same price that a couple of glasses of watered-down, mass-market swill would cost at a restaurant.  Likewise, for what a couple of mixed drinks would cost at a restaurant, I can buy a pint of pretty good stuff and pour them as strong as I want at home.

 

I also wouldn't drink even at home while shooting targets in the back yard, etc.  I simply don't see a 'need' for it nor do I think it would enhance my enjoyment of target shooting.

 

As others have said, though, if I am at home and have a firearm in my pocket or within arm's reach, the idea of drinking one beer isn't going to make me freak out and start locking everything up.  If I were going to have more than one, I'd be more likely to put the firearms out of reach but it is so rare that I have more than one, anymore, that I don't even devote much thought to that.

 

Certainly everyone needs to make decisions that will contribute to firearm safety.  I do believe, however, that our collective 'ideas' about alcohol consumption are influenced by the long-reaching shadow of Prohibition as well as living in the Bible Belt.

 

Case in point:  Way back in the mid 1990s, some friends and I spent a week at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico (Puerto Vallarta - before that location apparently became a big 'gay' vacation destination.)  We went into town on a couple of days to souvenir hunt and just to try and get some idea of what daily life there would be like.  I went into one store and bought a beer.  Now, this wasn't a Budwater, etc.  This was a La Boheme (Bohemia) that had not been watered down for importation into the U.S. (I have had Bohemia here and the alcohol content was around 4% - the one in Mexico clearly stated on the label that the alcohol content was 7%.)  I paid for it, the clerk popped the lid off for me and bid me a good day.  I asked, "So, I can just drink this while walking down the street?" and she assured me that, yes, it was no problem.  Well, as I exited the store I noticed that there was a road construction crew working on fixing the street outside that store.  They were apparently taking a break - and most if not all of them were drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette.  No one was freaking out that they were drinking 'on the job' or while operating construction equipment.  Obviously, having a beer on break was considered commonplace so I am guessing that it didn't regularly result in death and mayhem.

 

My point is that, despite how even the non-religious among us might have our opinions and attitudes regarding alcohol influenced by the specters of Prohibition and Protestantism, I don't believe that 'demon alcohol' is going to invade my body, mind and spirit and cause me to start shooting up the place after only one beer any more than that evil gun in my pocket or holster is going to jump out and start shooting up the place all on its own.  Notice that, so far, no one who has answered the poll has indicated that carrying and having even one would be okay anywhere and everywhere - pretty much just at home.  Further, no one has indicated that they think it would be okay to be 'snockered' and carrying a gun.

 

Oh, and just something I found interesting, as an aside:

 

When I was in Mexico, the conversion rate was roughly 100 pesos per American dollar.  A Coca-Cola purchased at one of the little stores in town was about 90 pesos.  That La Boheme beer I bought was seventy-something pesos and the bottles were the same size.  So Coca-Cola was more expensive than beer.

Edited July 12, 2013 by JAB

[Guest Bonedaddy]

I'm kinda with Mike on this'n. I been a  drankin' long a 'nuff, though not much anymore, to know when thangs are changin' in me. If I do intend on havin' a few more then I put it back in my hidin' place so that it's still quickly accessible, if needed. If there's gonna be some serious drankin' goin' on, party/whatever, then it goes in the safe. People should really learn their selves well before learnin' their guns well. I've seen more accidents with people demostratin' their new rod and reels than with guns when drankin' was involved but the danger is just not the same, ya know.

[Monkeyman2500]

I understand why the law says no drinking while carrying. Some folks can't control themselves when drinking. It bothers me I can't have a couple beers and carry but I obey the law nonetheless. At home I don't even think about it. Don't really carry at home because one is close by. I have no fear though if I get sloshed at home that I may fire off a round. Never have got crazy in all my life even after I've had to many. But I also would NEVER get wasted and start handling, cleaning, showing off my firearms.