Here
is a great list of gun safety rules. By following these simple gun safety
rules, you will much safer.
Treat all guns as if they are loaded.
Never let the muzzle of a gun point at anything you do not want to
destroy.
Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.
Be absolutely sure of your target and what is around and beyond your
target.
Rule #1 is often modified to a more extreme version, to hammer home
the essential point: "All guns are always loaded." Gun enthusiasts
generally act this way at all times. People who are inexperienced with
guns sometimes violate this rule, thinking that since the gun is unloaded
it is safe to "play" with it. That's not even true if the
gun is really unloaded, and because human error is often the
foremost factor in gun accidents, it is safer to make the extreme assumption.
Also, remember that almost all gun accidents are produced with a gun
that someone considered "unloaded".
One potentially fatal assumption is that when the cartridge magazine
is pulled out, the gun is unloaded. But there can be one bullet already
loaded in the firing chamber.
Rule #2 applies to both loaded and unloaded weapons. Remember rule
#1. Even when your gun is unloaded, and you know it is unloaded, you
should carry it in such a fashion that the gun still doesn't point at
anything you aren't willing to destroy.
Rule #3 is violated frequently by police and criminals in movies and
television programs. But properly trained users will only place their
finger on the trigger when it is time to fire. The time that it takes
to slip the finger to the trigger is minuscule, as compared to the high
degree of safety obtained by following this rule. Modern guns never
simply "go off". It takes a finger on the trigger.
Rule #4 is self-explanatory. You must
know not only what you are shooting at, but what is beyond it and near
it. In some emergency situations (a hostage crisis) it might be necessary
to take a risky shot -- but you must know what you are doing
first, to be safe.
Additionally, there are four rules of gun safety which can be taught
to all children who are too young to learn to properly handle a weapon.
Stop! Don't Touch. Leave the area.
Tell an adult.
Guns kept in the home for whatever
reason should be made safe from any possibility of use by untrained
children. This can be accomplished most effectively through the use
of a locking device. The role of the gun in the home safety strategy
need not be compromised, with the existence of many effective fast-unlocking
storage cabinets which can be kept at the bedside.
Guns which are not in use at all, i.e. not in use for home defense,
can be stored even more securely unloaded and in a safe with a trigger
locking device.