So you have a permit to carry. Now you need to make sure you and your family are safe when handling your gun.

4 Rules of Firearm Safety

1:  Treat all guns as though they are loaded.

The first rule is pretty straight forward. If we treat firearms like they are always loaded, accidents shouldn’t happen. Firearms should be treated with respect. They are not toys, they are tools. We do not play with them. The first thing people usually say after a negligent discharge is “I thought it was unloaded”.

How else should we treat a gun that is loaded? Let’s continue on with the rest of the universal rules to find out.

2:  Never Point a gun at anything that you’re not willing to destroy.

This is one of the ways we treat a gun that is loaded and every gun is treated as it is always loaded, right?  (see rule number 1)  This means we don’t point guns at people, except in legal self defense which we can’t get into in this article.  What else don’t we want to destroy?  There is a long list of things like pets and property. 

 Another way to look at it is we point our gun in the direction of least consequence.  If that gun were to fire, what or who would it kill, injure or destroy?  This is why learning various ready position (ie low ready, and high ready) is important.  Not only is pointing a gun at a person unsafe, but it is against the law in all 50 states, if it is perceived as being intentional and it is not for self defense.  Are there other ways we should treat a loaded gun?  Yes!  Onto rule number three.  

3:  Never put your finger on the trigger until your sights are on target and you have made the decision to shoot. 

Negligent discharges happen because someone had their finger on the trigger or something got into the trigger guard.  Usually they had their finger on the trigger.  Sometimes they pressed the trigger for unknown reasons or pure carelessness.   Sometimes there is a reason.  That can be a sympathetic squeeze.  This is when you squeeze or close the hand that is not holding the gun, but the hand that is holding the gun also closes which presses the trigger.  Other times it could be from a startle reflex.  This is when someone gets scared, tenses up and presses the trigger.  None of these things can happen if you keep your finger straight, high on the slide or frame and completely and totally OFF the trigger!  Lets move onto rule number 4 and see what that’s all about.

4:  Know what is behind your target and to the left and right of your target.  

When we are target shooting we obviously need to know what is behind our target.  Is there a good backstop?  Does everyone know the range is hot and someone is about to shoot?  We are positive no one is down range putting up targets for example?

In a defensive situation this is also important.  If we miss our intended target is an innocent person going to get hit?  Do we have a backstop? Do we have to move or wait until it is safe to shoot?  These are questions that have to be asked and answered in a hurry! 

There is another way to mitigate the risk of hitting an innocent person.  That is to use ammunition made for self-defense which is known as Jacketed Hollow Point Ammunition (JHP).  Jacketed hollow point ammunition will mushroom on impact.  “Mushrooming” means the bullet will open up like a flower and that will act as a parachute that will cause the bullet to not over penetrate.  If you are using a full metal jacket bullet meant for target practice it will go right through your intended target and injure, kill or destroy whatever or whoever it happens to hit next.

These rules overlap one another.  The first rule tells you to treat every gun as if it is loaded.  Rules 2-4 explain how we treat guns as loaded.  Rule four is also an extension of rule 2 which is not to point a gun at anything that we don’t want to destroy.  If there is someone behind our intended target and we point our gun at the intended target, we are in fact breaking rule number 2.  

I hope this helps everyone to be as safe as possible.  If everyone knew these rules and followed them, there would be no accidents.  That is a goal we should all want.  Knowing these rules and following them will increase our confidence. If we have high confidence that we can safely handle a firearm we are more likely to concealed carry our handgun. A handgun that is in a safe cannot protect us or our families.