When it really happens: SHTF...

[30Three]

Question: If buying a firearm for the first time in the USA; what training or safety instructions go with it? Is there any requirement to know how to operate it safely?
I ask because in France, if you want a pistol or revolver; you need gun club membership for at least 6 months and pass a written safety exam; before requesting a licence to purchase. Which will need clearing by the local police force before you can buy.
So realistically you'll be shooting club guns for a year before you've got your own.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[usabaker]

Question: If buying a firearm for the first time in the USA; what training or safety instructions go with it? Is there any requirement to know how to operate it safely?

The answer depends on the state where a person lives; there are no national training or safety requirements other than having the firearms secured in a locked container. Some, not all, states have training requirements.

California requires that you have a California Firearms Safety Certificate(valid for five years from the date of issuance) or Hunting License (California Hunter Safety Course) and a background check before you can purchase a firearm. You must also go through background checks each time you purchase a firearm and every time you buy ammunition.

In California you must also keep all firearms in a California Certified Gun Safe;

An acceptable gun safe is either one the following:

A gun safe that meets all of the following standards:
Shall be able to fully contain firearms and provide for their secure storage.
Shall have a locking system consisting of at minimum a mechanical or electronic combination lock. The mechanical or electronic combination lock utilized by the safe shall have at least 10,000 possible combinations consisting of a minimum three numbers, letters, or symbols. The lock shall be protected by a case hardened (Rc 60+) drill resistant steel plate, or drill resistant material of equivalent strength.
Boltwork shall consist of a minimum of three steel locking bolts of at least 1/2-inch thickness that intrude from the door of the safe into the body of the safe or from the body of the safe into the door of the safe, which are operated by a separate handle and secured by the lock.
A gun safe shall be capable of repeated use. The exterior walls shall be constructed of a minimum 12-gauge thick steel for a single walled safe, or the sum of the steel walls shall add up to at least 0.100 inches for safes with two walls. Doors shall be constructed of a minimum one layer of 7-gauge steel plate reinforced construction or at least two layers of a minimum 12-gauge steel compound construction.
Door hinges shall be protected to prevent the removal of the door. Protective features include, but are not limited to: hinges not exposed to the outside, interlocking door designs, dead bars, jeweler's lugs and active or inactive locking bolts.
A gun safe that is able to fully contain firearms and provide for their secure storage, and is certified to/listed as meeting Underwriters Laboratories Residential Security Container rating standards by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL).

---------- Post added at 12:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 PM ----------

I ask because in France, if you want a pistol or revolver; you need gun club membership for at least 6 months and pass a written safety exam; before requesting a licence to purchase. Which will need clearing by the local police force before you can buy.
So realistically you'll be shooting club guns for a year before you've got your own.

That sucks, in the US we have the 2nd Amendment in our constitution; "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The comma between the State and The is key.