Part 1: Handgun safety, parts and operation

Safety knowledge

Front and rear sights - Together, the sights are used as tools to align the gunshot to the target
Slide - On a semi-automatic handgun, the slide provides the action of loading a cartridge, and ejecting the casing when fired
Slide lock - The lock hold the slide in the open position when the gun is empty
Trigger and guard - The trigger is the part of the action that initiates the firing process, and the guard protects the trigger if the gun is dropped
Magazine - On a semi-automatic handgun, the magazine holds and feeds the ammunition into the barrel with the help of the slide
Safeties - There are multiple safety types offered on handguns design to prevent the gun from firing accidentally
Hammer, striker and firing pin - These parts, depending on the gun, combine to strike the cartridge primer which burns the gunpowder and discharges the bullet
Barrel - The barrel contains the firing chamber, and length of tubing through which the bullet is discharged. Barrels are designed with various lengths and diameters depending on the handgun specification

For a semi-automatic handgun, load cartridges into the magazine
Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction with your finger off the trigger and the slide locked back
Firmly insert magazine into the magazine-well
Release the slide to load a cartridge from the magazine
Maintain safe control of the gun as you prepare to fire

For a semi-automatic gun, some include a de-cocker feature
Depress the de-cocker lever to take the gun safely out of ready-to-fire condition
De-cocking a gun that has an external hammer can be accomplished by slowly lowering the hammer with your weak hand thumb between the hammer and slide to prevent an accidental hammer drop. This approach requires coordination between the trigger and hammer to initially unlock the hammer