Last Post, I promise.

Hunter, you still do not get my point. I'm not saying that it's ok to ever treat a weapon as if it's in any condition other than loaded. All I'm saying is this:

1. WHEN TEACHING/DEMONSTRATING anywhere other than on a range, while the use of live ammo does not increase the possiblity of an accident, it does increases the RISK of serious bodily harm should an accident occur.

2. At NO TIME does the use of Dummy ammo, make it alright to handle any weapon in a manner other than if it were loaded. Yes that means that you still have to keep the weapon pointed in a safe direction and yes, you still have to keep you finger OFF the trigger. I have had instructors under my supervision, carelessly handle weapons in a classroom before, and in those very few cases, I almost had to have my boot surgicly removed from their butt.

3. Accidents happen. Some weapons, like the Browning Hi-Power, the Colt 1911, etc. REQUIRE THE SAFETY TO BE OFF when loading or clearing, in order to operate the slide. Weapons can slip in the hand and there is always the chance that while demonstrating a technique, a normally amazingly safe and highly skilled individual might get distracted with a camera, student, what ever, and inadvertently do something they might never believe themselves capable of. Things can go wrong in a micro second and when they do, it's too late to say, "Sorry about that."

This is why, in the US Air Force anyway, we do not allow live ammo in the classroom. There is no reason to have live ammo in a classroom if you are not planning to shoot in the classroom. That is why dummy rounds are made. It is just an UN-NECCESSARY RISK to you and any students that might be there to use live ammo in a classroom.

I guess for me, I believe that, in the case of an un-thinkable accident, I'd rather hear "CLICK" than "BANG!"

That said, if you want to demonstrate loading, un-loading, shooting, clearing, cleaning, clearance of jams & malfunctions or anything else, with live ammo in a classroom, in a home, or anywhere else for that matter, well, you go right ahead. I won't say a word, or type one for that matter. I won't be there.