Calling firearms safety practices "range" rules can set us up for failure in the *real* world. Firearms aren't just for the range, and the rules extend beyond 3 berms and a redshirt RSO. At any Timothy Group firearms-related courses, we utilize an updated version of Cooper's 4 cardinal rules of gun handling:
- Always know the condition of your gun.
- Keep the gun pointed in the safest direction possible.
- Keep your finger straight and outside the trigger guard until the gun is on target with the intent to fire.
- Be sure of your target, its foreground, background, and flanks.
Each of these has a safety component, and an effectiveness component. The two are inseperable:
1: Positively control the status of your gun. If it needs to be unloaded, make it unloaded. If it needs to be loaded and in-battery, make it so.
2: There are more things *not* to shoot than there are things *to* shoot. Learn the various techniques to manage your muzzle based on situations you might find yourself in. "Down range" isn't always a thing in the real world.
3: This prevents a sympathetic squeeze causing a negligent discharge, but also gives more control of the gun and harnesses our natural ability to point accurately. This gives us better control over the gun and is arguably the most important safety measure.
4: Positively identify your target, and remember that you're responsible for wherever the bullet goes or could go.
Pictured: recruits undergo basic handgun instruction at CHALLENGE: Basic 2012. Register on the [CHALLENGE page](/challenge) for our next event on September 12th.