4 Laws of Firearms Safety

I was looking over my previous posts and realized that I have never actually written an articale about the rules of firearms safety. I guess I just assumed that it was too elementary of a topic to need to cover. However, an incident happened the other day with a neighbor that made me realize I shouldn't just assume everyone knows how to handle a firearm safely. What has become known as the 4 Laws of Firearms Safety was made popular by Col. Jeff Cooper. They are...

1. All guns are always loaded.

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.

4. Identify your target, and what is behind it.

To me, these rules seem pretty self explanatory, but I'm going to try to expand upon each of them to make sure they are clear. If you follow these 4 simple rules, you could eliminate 99% of firearms accidents.

Rule #1: All guns are always loaded...

This rule does not literally mean that any gun you pick up will contain ammo. What it means is that you should always treat every gun as if it were loaded no matter how many times you've checked it. I will tell you a story to hammer this home.

My family ran a pawn shop in SC from 1940 - 2001. I worked there off and on through high school and college and helped out some even after I graduated and had started my own career. One day, a customer brought in several guns he wanted to put on consignment. One of them was a .22 pistol and he had forgotten to bring the magazine with the gun. He promised to bring the magazine the next day so we went ahead and logged the guns in and put them out for sale. That next day, I had already shown the gun to at least 3 customers. Each time, I had pulled back the slide, seen an empty chamber and no magazine and then handed the gun to the customer. Later that day, the customer brought in the magazine and handed it to my uncle. He put it in the gun and walked away. The next customer I helped wanted to see the same .22 pistol. I had already checked this gun 3 different times that day, but I pulled it out of the case and pulled back the slide and watched with shock as a round fed from the magazine and slid into the chamber! The magazine the seller had brought us was loaded and my uncle had paid no attention to it! I excused myself to the back and unloaded the gun before handing it to the customer, but if I had not checked it I would have handed a customer a loaded gun.

This is why it is so critical to check every gun you handle every time and even after you verify it it is unloaded, you treat it as if it were loaded. How many times have you read tragic articles in the paper about gun accidents where the person that did the shooting says "I thought it was unloaded"? Well, if he had treated it as if it were loaded, it wouldn't have mattered!

There is no such thing as an unloaded gun. Period.

Rule #2: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

If everyone followed this rule 100% of the time, just think how many accidents could be avoided. I cannot tell you how many times while working at a gun shop or shopping in a gun shop or walking a gun show, I've had "unloaded" guns pointed at me. See Rule #1! If you treat every gun as if it were loaded, you won't be pointing them at people, or animals or property. Watch your muzzle and don't point it at ANYTHING you aren't willing to destroy. That way, even if the magic bullet finds its way into the chamber and you violate Rule #3 (getting ahead of myself) and put your finger on the trigger, it won't matter because it is pointed in a safe direction.

Rule #3: Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.

This seems so obvious but gets broken so often it is scary! If you aren't on target and ready to shoot, KEEP YOUR BOOGER HOOK OFF THE BANG SWITCH! Is that plain enough? There is no reason whatsoever to have your finger inside the trigger guard of a gun unless you are preparing to shoot. The obvious exception to this is if disassembly requires you to dry fire the gun (e.g. a Glock), but in that case as long as you have followed Rule #2 you will still be safe. When I worked at a gun shop in the late 90's, I'd bet 70% of the customers I handed guns to put immediately put their finger on the trigger and 90% of those had not checked it first to see it was unloaded and probably 50% of them proceeded to point the gun right at me! Good grief!

Rule #4: Identify your target, and what is behind it.

This one is so critical and gets ignored so often. You are legally and morally responsible for every bullet that leaves the barrel of your gun from the moment you squeeze the trigger until the moment it reaches its final resting place. Paper, cardboard and soda cans aren't going to stop a bullet. You need to make sure there is a good, reliable backstop beyond your target and you need to be 100% sure that you are firing into that backstop. This is the rule that the neighbor broke that inspired this rant. I won't go into the details to avoid embarrassing anyone, but you must understand that bullets can travel a very long distance if they aren't stopped by a backstop and they can cause serious injury or death at those distances. If you have any doubts about this, ask the family of the little girl tragically killed in the wave pool at Carowinds back in the late 80's because of some idiot who lobbed a rifle round in from over a mile away because he violated this rule.

Ok... enough ranting. If you stuck with me through all that, thank you. I apologize if this came off a bit preachy, but the story I heard from a neighbor who was being reckless with a gun really got we wound up about this topic. Follow these rules and you can enjoy the wonderful sport of shooting safely and you can come home with the same number of holes you left with.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.