Col. Cooper's/Gunsite's Four Rules...

[Jay Cunningham]

The following are commonly referred to as the "cardinal" and/or "universal" "rules" of safe gun handling:


All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.

Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.)

Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60 percent of inadvertent discharges.

Identify your target, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.







Question #1: Are they truly Rules?

Question #2: Are they, in fact, universal?

Question #3: Are they serving us well?

[RoyGBiv]

Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men... Douglas Bader

1. Rules? Yes.
2. Universal? No.
3. Well served? Certainly, if you allow yourself to be guided by them and not limited by them.

[TR675]

I like Roy's quote.

1. Rules? I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at here.

2. Universal? Nope. Look at our recent discussions about safety on the skeet and trap range, i.e., "it's ok to muzzle people when the action is open."

3. Well served? Yeah. They are remarkably succinct and well thought out. You generally have to break two or more to have a horrible accident. When internalized, I think they are a good fail-safe against human error. I agree that you cannot and should not follow them in all circumstances, but they are generally an excellent set of rules for safe gun handling.

The Rules' biggest downside is that there are four of them and I can only ever remember three things at a time.

[David Armstrong]

Question #1: Are they truly Rules?

Question #2: Are they, in fact, universal?

Question #3: Are they serving us well?

1. No
2. No
3. Yes

[JHC]

1. I guess so (trick question?)

2. No - for both deliberate and unintentional circumstances

3. Most interesting. Yes with extensive training and unfailing attention. I thought the question on FB about whether something else might serve better was a VERY interesting question.

I cannot think of a "rule" to replace or augment.

But one might explore "mechanisms" to force compliance with rules. I am using the term "mechanism" as a practice, once put in place; necessitates a certain outcome. Jeff Cooper liked hot ranges because that was a mechanism that necessitated safe gun handling.

[Rosco Benson]

Jeff Cooper liked hot ranges because that was a mechanism that necessitated safe gun handling.

I agree. "Cold" ranges seem to invite dangerous handling, with the excuse "It's not LOADED". That's fine until it inadvertantly IS loaded.

Cooper's four rules are concise and make sense, thus they are easy to make them part of your life.

Rosco

[JHC]

I agree. "Cold" ranges seem to invite dangerous handling, with the excuse "It's not LOADED". That's fine until it inadvertantly IS loaded.

Cooper's four rules are concise and make sense, thus they are easy to make them part of your life.

Rosco

Hi Rosco, long time fan of your writing btw.

I see the principle behind the hot range as - make something more dangerous; so that it is consistently safer. (thanks to mental focus) I think that works.

Soooo is there another mechanism to make the activity more dangerous in order to improve safety?

[Drang]

Question #1: Are they truly Rules?
Begs the question, "What is a 'rule'?"
Question #2: Are they, in fact, universal?
Obviously not, see the NRA's Three Rules vs. Gunsite/The Internet's Four Rules, in all their variations.
Question #3: Are they serving us well?
They are common enough that they give everyone a common framework, imperfect though they may be in specific circumstances.

I spun a blog post back in December '08* about the differences between the "Three Rulians" and the "Four Rulians", since, as an NRA instructor I occasionally found myself explaining why they NRA uses 3 and not 4. (And often adding "Oh, BTW, Col. Cooper helped write the NRA's curriculum, so apparently he had no heartburn with this version.")
There is an extended discussion of the Four Rules, and the Three Rules, here: The Gun Zone - The Rules.







* The Clue Meter: Safety First!, if anyone cares. I think the video of the guy with his chainsaw bayonet was the perfect intro...

[GardoneVT]

#4 : No.

The Four Rules are excellent guidelines, for trained people.The problem is that the RKBA applies to untrained in equal measure, which means many folks who can't be bothered to remember these guidelines will nevertheless be armed.

As sad as this concept is, we need a "Cliff Notes" version, two rules max and preferably just one which Mr Ego and his buddy Cletus can follow .

I mention this because two people I've seen shoot both dismissed the Four Rules when they were called out on it. It's human nature to deny making a mistake rather then learning from it,sadly.

[Tamara]

I agree. "Cold" ranges seem to invite dangerous handling, with the excuse "It's not LOADED". That's fine until it inadvertantly IS loaded.

People seem to get their "unloaded" and "loaded" guns mixed up sometimes, with the predictable loud and sometimes messy result. It would be interesting to see the overlap between those that do and those that get all Asperger's about the phraseology of Rule One.