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Important though unusual rule about guns:

If you are ever around a friend who is armed, in the field, it is essential to find out if they have ophiophobia (abnormal fear of snakes.)

It is almost a unique rule, but one that is serious as a heart attack, because it presents a life-threatening danger to them and everyone else around them.

Because when somebody has ophiophobia, if they are armed and in the presence of a snake, they utterly lose their common sense.

I have seen highly intelligent, disciplined, well trained soldiers totally lose it in the presence of a snake. And they will use any weapon near their grasp in the worst possible way.

One example was a senior NCO, standing in a rocky dry river bed, pointing a .45 at a snake almost between his feet, while a dozen other screaming and running people were yelling at him to hold his fire. “It’s okay,” he said, “the snake is on sand!” Yeah, about a half an inch of sand over a round river rock.

Another one ruined his expensive chrome cavalry sabre by chopping a *rubber* snake into small pieces on a concrete floor, with a two handed, terrified and screaming swing.