In the right hands, a properly maintained and skillfully handled firearm can play an instrumental role in a healthy, active outdoor lifestyle; or be a powerful tool for self-protection. As with nearly any tool, however, great care must be taken with guns, to minimize the possibility of serious injury or death resulting from misuse or negligence. Whether you're an expert or a novice, experienced gun enthusiast or a first time shooter, using a firearm safely requires attention, awareness, and discipline. The National Rifle Association—the oldest civil rights organization in the US, and the leading voice in gun safety education—identifies three primary rules that must be followed by all gun owners, to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of an unintentional discharge.
Rule #1: Always point your gun in a safe direction.
The first, and most important rule of gun safety is to always point the barrel of your firearm in a safe direction. Common sense dictates that the safest direction to point your gun will vary from one situation to the next; but constant conscious attention to your firearm and your surroundings must be maintained to ensure that the muzzle of your firearm is always pointed away from any objects or people that you would not want seriously damaged or injured in the event of an unintended discharge. In a controlled shooting environment—a supervised firing range, for example—the safest direction is “down range” toward the target. When hunting, you can use a number of carrying techniques to ensure that your firearm is pointed toward the sky or ground, and well away from yourself and the other members of your group at all times.
Rule #2: Always keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
To minimize the possibility of unintentional discharge when carrying your firearm, keep your finger off of the trigger until you are absolutely prepared to shoot. Keep your finger outside the trigger guard to avoid unintentionally firing your gun while carrying it. Once again, constant conscious attention to your firearm and your surroundings must be maintained at all times to avoid prematurely or negligently firing your firearm before you are ready to do so. Never touch the trigger until you are absolutely certain of your target, and are ready to fire.
Rule #3: Always keep your firearm unloaded when it is not in use.
After each use, carefully unload and clean your firearm before storing it securely. Locking devices and gun safes can be used as an added measure of security, to prevent children and other unauthorized users from accessing your guns; but, regardless of whether or not your firearms are kept in a secure locker, they must be stored unloaded, with ammunition stored in a separate locked container. If your gun has a magazine, remove it before ensuring that the chamber is clear of ammunition.
Later, when you retrieve your firearm from storage, treat it as if it were loaded, even if you know it isn’t. Engage the gun’s safety, and keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction while you re-check the chamber to make absolutely certain that it is unloaded. Follow the same procedure every time you pick up a firearm—always assume that the gun is loaded until you have made absolutely certain that it isn’t, and teach everyone who comes into contact with your gun to do the same. Children, especially, must be instructed to treat every firearm as if it were loaded—even when they have reason to think that it isn’t. Your self-discipline, in this regard, can serve as an absolutely vital model of behavior for the people who matter most in your life.
It is important to note that a gun kept in a quick-access safe or concealed on your person, is technically in use; and should therefore be loaded. Additional steps must be taken in these circumstances to make sure that children and other unauthorized users do not have access to your firearm. The freedom to carry a concealed firearm, or to use a gun for self-protection and home security, carries the weight of responsibility. All necessary precautions must be taken to prevent unintentional injury or death from a poorly handled or negligently stored firearm.
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