P95Carry

djhiram,

Thank you for posting and welcome to the board. A very salutary tale you tell - which proves I guess that however much we try to train others and instill safety - there will sadly always (seemingly) be the few who either have very poor memory skills or - simply ignore such sensibilities.

I started this thread ages ago - every now and again it gets a comment so I feel vindicated. Some folks seem to roll eyes when safety is mentioned as if they are saying - "What do you think I am? Ignorant?" Well yes sometimes folks are and refuse to concede that they (even 'they') can learn and be safer.

Matdicdad - no thanks needed - just pleased to see this being taken heed of.

I as ever for those who know me, impress rule #2 the heaviest - which is not to say all should not be implemented fully but - out of all the tragedies I have read or heard about, lack of observance of rule #2 was in the end the killer.

It's logical IMO - if a stray bullet ends up not causing harm then everyone lives to go home and enjoy another day - even if egg is smeared on someone's face! Egg washes off!

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I came back to this having noticed in the 2 1/2 years this thread has been around - over 6,000 views!!! That pleases me greatly as - maybe I can even gain some comfort in thinking that out of that large number, just perhaps, an odd accident or two was avoided - like to think so.

__________________
Chris - P95
NRA Certified Instructor & NRA Life Member.

"To own a gun and assume that you are armed
is like owning a piano and assuming that you are a musician!."

If a BG dies as the result of pointing a gun at me, then he has merely succumbed to an occupational hazard of being a thug

calmp9

Well, I believe that Rule #2 is the most important. If that gun is pointed in a safe direction, nothing will happen if people forget rules #1, 3 and 4.

JonInNY

You can never repeat those too often. And you are right, if you can only remember one of them, go with #2 (and the 2nd part of #4). Too often we read about people that needlessly get hurt or worse from someone that didn't know "they were there."

__________________
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."
-- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-8

tremor

thanks for the reminder - this must incorporated and not just remembered

bcbrown2

I just went through both Basic and Intermediate CCW courses this weekend and we had a brief discussion of the Four Rules of Firearms Safety. A few of us had agreed that keeping the weapon pointed in a safe direction at all times is probably the most important rule when our instructor reminded us of something which we all agreed with -- the most important safety rule is to keep your finger (and anything else) out of the trigger well until:

1. You're on target
2. You're ready to fire
3. You intend to fire on and destroy your target

...the designation between 2. and 3. being subtle, but important. Flagging the muzzle across unintended people/places/things downrange itself won't result in a negligent discharge but most/all NDs happen when a finger presses the trigger when it wasn't supposed to happen.

Just thought I'd share... not trying to start an argument. All the rules are extremely important and I'm glad to see the folks on here posting them at the top of the forum.

Cheers!!

dukalmighty

Watched a news clip once where a female reporter was being instructed in shooting a glock on a police range and after shooting she's holding the gun and starts waving it around while she's talking,you shoulda seen the range instructors face as he's trying to grab her arm and keep the weapon pointed in a safe direction while he points out how unsafe she is handling the gun

__________________
I like Poetry,Long Walks On The Beach,And Poking Dead Things With A Stick

2 Swords

I recently learned that a young man I know shot himself in the thigh while getting into his car. He pulled the door closed with his left hand, and his right hand also closed, but on the trigger of the loaded pistol he was holding. He isn't stupid, just acted like it that day. He was in serious condition for a while, but is recovering. I tell my shop students that all the safety rules I make them learn in the woodshop are totally unnecessary unless something goes wrong!

Anon

I personally believe rule #1 is not a rule, but a (largely incorrect) statement.

I'm sure Jeff spent quite a bit of time and thought, boiling the rules down, and he placed that rule at number one for a reason. That said, the "rule" doesn't make sense, and should never have been adopted.

The rule (as written by Jeff Cooper, and adopteed by many as "the firest rule of gun safety") is:

All guns are always loaded.

First, let's get into how this is not a rule. For a sentence to be a rule, it must give direction for what actions are to be taken or avoided.

This "rule" is no more a rule (and no more useful) than the statement "All guns are capable of firing projectiles that can cause harm".

Now for the inaccuracy. Since most guns are currently NOT loaded, and since it is possible to render any gun unloaded, the "rule" is absolutley false, and becomes something that is easily dismissed or ignored.

I'm sure Col. Cooper pondered the much more sensible "Treat all guns as if they are loaded", and decided that this rule did not meet his criteria. However, "Treat all guns as if they are loaded" is at least a rule, as it has the ability to direct action.

I'm not arguing that having the correct safety mindset at all times around guns is wrong, I'm just pointing out that "Rule 1" is poorly conceived. So poorly, in fact, that when P95Carry started this thread, he took the time to re-write Cooper's original rule #1 (but still ended up with an incorrect statement, and not a hard-and-fast "rule").

Anubis

Anon, you have a point. The blanket statement "all guns are always loaded", if taken literally, is false. Colonel Cooper may have boiled it down to the shortest phrase to capture the essence of his thought just for mnemonic ease. (I actually do keep all of my pistols loaded, although usually one is holstered on me and the others are locked up.)

One rule or 4, it's really a question of what one prefers for semantic content. If you are of the minimalist school, all gun safety rules could be reduced to 2 words: "don't err".

__________________
"If you got to shoot, shoot! Don't talk!" -Tuco Ramirez-

P95Carry

I too will in part accept the argument - altho it is in part semantics.

If #1 is perhaps no longer called a rule but a ''way to go'' - I still find it more than adequate as something to remember - it is really in my book part of the ''don't assume (anything)" approach.

The reason I personally regard #2 as the singular ''catch-all'' - is that if #1 has been casually ignored as it so often can be, then at least any discharge would be more egg on face than hole in body!!

__________________
Chris - P95
NRA Certified Instructor & NRA Life Member.

"To own a gun and assume that you are armed
is like owning a piano and assuming that you are a musician!."

If a BG dies as the result of pointing a gun at me, then he has merely succumbed to an occupational hazard of being a thug