4 Basic Firearm Safety Rules

You must always comply with each of these rules. And now we will consider them separately and see how these rules can protect you, even if you forget to follow one of them. And if you (suddenly) realize that you are violating one of these rules (I hope that this does not happen), be sure to remember this situation in order to avoid its repetition in the future.

1. Always Handle Weapons As If Charged.
This rule, at first glance, may seem obvious. But what is surprising is that not everyone intuitively understands the simple truth that you should not direct weapons at yourself, your relatives or friends.

The “Handling as if loaded” rule is intended to ensure that you comply with the following three safety rules, regardless of the current state of your weapon.
If you adhere to additional rules, you will always know whether your weapon is loaded or not. However, given, inter alia, various external factors, people are very forgetful, which sometimes leads to incredible and tragic incidents. Therefore, you should still handle any firearm, as if it was loaded, despite the fact that you can be sure of the opposite. Moreover, given human nature, more experienced weapon owners sometimes turn out to be more careless than novices when it comes to checking weapons for lack of ammunition after firing. Also always keep your gun at a safe place. There are lots of best gun safe under 1000 in the market. Just buy one and keep your gun in it.

2. Never Point the Gun Barrel Where You Are Not Going to Shoot.
A large number of incidents occur annually (analysis of statistics in the United States as the world’s largest weapons “community”) related to the unintentional shooting of themselves or people nearby. In the USA, according to the Los Angeles Times, these statistics are constantly decreasing. In addition to “monstrous accidents”, such as ricochets (when, in all probability, the shooter did not follow the following two safety rules), such incidents most likely mean that the “shooters” violated the 2nd safety rule when handling weapons – ” Never point the gun barrel where you are not going to shoot .”

I think that you will not argue with the statement that any weapon when shot and hit in a person, at least, can cause serious injuries, or at the very least lead to death.

Given all of the above, rule 2 smoothly goes into rule 3, which says that you should never allow your finger or anyone else to be on the trigger – you do not want to become part of the statistics when an improbable or unlikely malfunction of a weapon will lead to an involuntary or accidental shot with severe consequences.

3. Do Not Hold Your Finger On the Trigger Until Your Sight Is on Target and You Decide to Shoot.
Approaching this rule, I hope you begin to notice the logic of the joint work of all the rules, which will allow avoiding the tragedy if you break one of them. Never point your weapon where you don’t want to shoot but if you made a mistake and made it – your finger should not be on the trigger so that you would not even have the minimum probability of firing a shot.

Trigger discipline is incredibly important. This is important both during entertaining or sports shooting and in situations of necessary self-defense, especially under pressure from the situation. The fact that you took your weapon for self-defense does not necessarily mean that you want (or you need) to shoot.

4. Clearly Define Your Goal and Understand What Is Behind It.
Another rule that is especially important when conducting recreational, sports shooting or self-defense. This rule can be rephrased in one sentence – “always find protection” (eng: “always know your backstop”).

Even if you shoot a .22LR caliber weapon at a steel target, there is always a chance that a bullet will pass by. During recreational or sporting firing, there should always be a bullet trap behind your targets in order to take on bullets from shots missed by the target or bullets that pass through the target. It can be a natural obstruction or a structure that ensures the capture of bullets.

In self-defense situations, it may be more difficult to follow this rule. In such a situation, it is important to determine your goal and be sure that you want to fire a shot. It is also necessary to assess the situation and understand what is in front of and behind the goal. Remember that even if you hit the target, some types of bullets can go through it and get to where you did not want to shoot. Always make sure that your goal is not outsiders who are random people in this situation.

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Zayn Karim is a Blogger from Denver. He is currently doing MS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado. He has over 5 years of experience in the field of Guns & Sports. He likes to share his discoveries, experiences and express at his blog Tickarise.com