What do they do if they catch you closing the bolt on a rifle with the muzzle pointed at the ground? At safe ranges, we close the bolt with the muzzle pointed downrange, not at our feet!
I have never advocated pointing a gun at feet or anything else that is unsafe. You said "get those muzzles up in the air where they belong!"
And I have never heard a warning about pointing a gun at the ground at any range of any type, shotgun, rifle, indoor or outdoor.
But we're talking about a loaded shotgun pointed toward the ground;
You were the one that brought up rifles.
it is a hazard to gun dogs as well as to hunters. A loaded shotgun pointed upward is a hazard only to birds.
Unless you happen to trip and fall and then where is the muzzle pointed?
If you are teaching your 4-H students to carry a loaded shotgun
muzzle down in the field, I think you are dangerously mistaken.
Well actually I'm the rifle instructor but the shotgun instructors feel the same way I do. There are time when muzzle up is the safest and times muzzle down is the safest. But neither method is best all the time.
