Safety Rules

There are certain rules you should follow when handling a gun. Actually, they’re not rules. Rules are made to be broken. These are commandments. Etched in stone and never to be broken lest the sprit of Samuel Colt strike you down. Break one of these and chances are you might be ok. Break two of them and bad things are more likely to happen than not.

1. Treat every gun as though it were loaded – Not too hard. If you’ve walked away from the gun, do a quick check. Before you do anything, for that matter, drop the magazine and rack the slide and visually inspect the chamber.
2. Loaded or unloaded, never point the gun at anything you don’t want killed or destroyed – It’s just a good habit. Mainly because if you forget to do commandment #1, you at least reduce the risk of someone/something getting hurt.
3. Be sure of not only your target, but what’s behind it as well – aside from what you’ve seen in movies, bullets don’t always stop once they hit their target. Many times they can continue on for upwards of a mile after passing through something. At the very least, what if you miss your target?
4. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire – easy enough to do. Almost completely removes the risk of accidentally firing. I always keep my finger as high up on the gun as humanly possible,
5. Drinking and drugs do not mix with guns – don’t be like those idiots you make fun of on the news. “Hey, ya’ll, watch this…”
6. Your gun’s safety doesn’t work. Ever. – Don’t depend on your safety. Safeties fail. Of course use them but don’t use them as a substitute for good safety practices.

Finally, this one is my own personal one and not so much a commandment but certainly important: If you are in doubt, ask a question. That whole thing about better to beg for forgiveness than ask permission doesn’t apply with guns. If there is doubt, if there is a misunderstanding, ask someone.