They're more like guidelines, anyway.
I'll use reloading for example. When I'm practicing reloads at an indoor range, I definitely will point the muzzle at things I don't want to destroy, like the baffles above me when I bring the gun into my "workspace" to reload. I'm not saying it's okay to break the 4 Rules, but there is a certain point where the 4 Rules become guidelines for safe gunhandling and not doctrine that must always be followed. Somewhere in between "shooting for the first time" and "IDPA Ninja" there's a point where you go "oh, I get it now, Jeff Cooper wanted to make people think, not make them blindly follow these rules." That point is a different place for everyone though.