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Greetings--
It looks like he opened the slide, locked it in place and he might have even asked/showed it to someone off camera that it was cleared (no round in chamber). His apparent mistake was the he left the loaded magazine in place ! When he used the slide lock lever to release the slide, it placed a round in the chamber.

I thought it was interesting that when he picked up the rifle and proceeded to tell the class that it too was unloaded, several in the audience yelled for him to put it down. As previously said, he has now shown his audience that firearms are somehing to be feared *sigh*

I guess I'm sitting on the fence about this kind of presentation. On one hand, I firmly feel that children (and adults) should be taught respect for firearms. I feel fairly certian that at some point, they are going to come across a firearm. Everyone should know what one is and how to conduct themselves safely around someone that has a firearm. They should also know what unsafe behavor around a firearm is as well. A benifit of this knowledge is that they may develop an interest in the sport.

On the other hand, a brief "introduction" to firearms such as this may only serve to give the child (and adult) a false sense of correct/safe knowledge. I can see a situation develop where a child (or adult) who has seen such a presentation would feel comfortable handling a firearm. IMO, a brief presenation is not sufficient information on safe firearm handling and certianly not safe operation. A possible disaster waiting to happen, eh ?

Our kids have known we have firearms around the house for some time. They only recently have come of age where we felt comfortable letting them shoot. We frequently talk about safe handling and safe couduct around a firearm. Even when watching tv or movies, the kids will now comment about how the actor didn't do so and so. One could say they get 24x7 training.