When it comes to competitive shooting, the only thing shooters do more than shoot, is talk about shooting. And quite often, that comes through a video posted to social media; because that’s where glory is shared with the world. From sub-four-second shotgun reloads in the basement to cold bore long-range brilliance, it all gets posted. That in itself makes this latest video, of a USPSA DQ, all the more refreshing.

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It’s real. It’s not great. People could have got hurt. And there’s lessons to be learned for all.

In some ways, the more folks shoot, the more dangerous they can potentially be. Because when shooters get comfortable, that’s when complacency in safety creeps in. Take our USPSA pistol shooter here as an example.

He’s no champion shooter; few are. But the man has clearly shot a pistol before. Though this stage is extremely close and fast, the shooter employs great control and a fairly even cadence across the targets. He seems to be both pushing the gas a little bit, yet staying within his personal limits. In fact, when viewing just the shooting, and factoring in the range along with how close together his impacts are, I would encourage him to go even faster on this stage.

Anatomy of a USPSA DQ

So we’re not talking about someone that has never shot a gun. We’re talking about the average competitor, an action pistol competitor at that. And on average, the typical competitor shoots way, way more than most shooters in general. So this guy is doing just fine, until he seemingly lets his mind wonder for just an instant.

And then it goes bad.

Most experienced shooters will immediately see the problem. The shooter jumped into that easy routine of clearing the pistol. For whatever reason, his mind went to immediately jerking back on the slide. Problem is, he forgot to take out the mag prior. So when he watched that unfired round eject from the pistol, he didn’t realize he was loading another live round.

And then boom, a negligent discharge. He didn’t mean to, but it’s a disqualification from a match all the same. And in the worst scenarios, people get hurt.

So don’t hate on this guy too bad, but let this be yet another reminder that we are all responsible for safety on the range. It’s the one job that belongs to all shooters, and one in which we all must remain vigilant.