I have handled firearms for most of my life. I have hunted with them, trained with them, taught with them, and spent a lot of time around other people who use them.
And regardless of how experienced we become, there are some things we should never outgrow.
The four rules of gun safety are among them.
These rules are simple enough that a new shooter can learn them in a few minutes. They are also important enough that someone who has handled firearms for fifty years should still consciously practice them every single time a firearm comes out.
There is another reason I want to talk about them, particularly as hunting seasons approach.
I belong to numerous hunting and wildlife groups on social media. Every year I see trail-camera photographs posted with people asking, "What is this?"
Sometimes the answers are understandable. Trail cameras can produce poor photographs. Animals may be partially obscured, moving quickly, photographed at odd angles, or illuminated poorly at night.
But I also regularly see fairly decent photographs of bobcats identified as mountain lions, domestic dogs identified as coyotes, coyotes identified as wolves, house cats identified as bobcats and mountain lions, and other wildlife misidentified altogether.
That concerns me.
Not because everybody needs to be a professional wildlife biologist before going hunting.
They don't.
It concerns me because hunting sometimes requires us to identify an animal under considerably worse conditions than a still photograph.
The animal may be moving.
It may be partially concealed.
The light may be poor.
Your heart rate may be elevated.
You may only have a few seconds.
And there may be another hunter somewhere beyond it.
That brings us right back to firearm safety.
Where Did the Four Rules of Gun Safety Come From?
The principles behind safe firearm handling are much older than the particular list most of us know today.
Firearm instructors, shooting organizations, hunters, militaries, and shooting clubs had been teaching safe gun handling in various forms for generations.
By the middle of the twentieth century, organized hunter education was becoming increasingly important in the United States. New York worked with the National Rifle Association to establish one of America's first standardized hunter education programs around 1949. Similar programs eventually spread throughout the country.
The particular Four Rules of Firearm Safety familiar to many shooters today are strongly associated with Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper.
Cooper founded Gunsite in Arizona in 1976 and developed what became known as the Modern Technique of the Pistol. As part of that system, he codified four simple rules of safe firearm handling that have since been taught throughout the civilian shooting world and incorporated, in various forms, into military and law-enforcement training.
Different organizations phrase firearm safety rules somewhat differently. The NRA, for example, currently emphasizes three fundamental safe-handling rules while separately emphasizing knowing your target and what lies beyond it.
The wording may differ.
The principles do not.
For our purposes, I like the traditional four-rule format because it is simple, memorable, and redundant and that redundancy is important.
A serious incident generally requires more than one safety principle to be violated.
Rule 1: Treat Every Firearm as Though It Is Loaded
Jeff Cooper's original wording was even more direct:
All guns are always loaded.
Obviously, we can physically verify that a firearm contains no ammunition.
That isn't really the point.
The point is to develop a habit of handling firearms consistently, whether we believe they are loaded or unloaded.
If somebody hands you a firearm, check it.
If you pick up your own firearm, check it.
If somebody tells you, "Don't worry, it's unloaded," check it yourself.
If you personally unloaded it fifteen minutes ago and are picking it up again, check it.
That shouldn't insult anybody.
It should reassure them.
What This Looks Like in the Real World
When I pick up a firearm, I want to know its condition.
Depending upon the firearm, that means controlling the muzzle, keeping my finger away from the trigger, opening the action, removing the ammunition source where applicable, and visually and physically confirming its condition when appropriate.
Do not let familiarity make you casual.
There is an old idea that familiarity breeds contempt. With firearms, familiarity can sometimes breed something just as dangerous:
complacency.
You don't become experienced enough to stop checking.
Experience should make you more consistent about checking.
Rule 2: Never Allow the Muzzle to Cover Anything You Are Not Willing to Destroy
You will also hear this expressed as:
Always keep the firearm pointed in a safe direction.
A "safe direction" isn't always straight down.
It isn't always straight up.
It depends upon your environment.
Think about where that projectile could go if the firearm discharged at this exact moment.
That question should be running quietly in the back of your mind anytime you handle a firearm.
Muzzle Discipline While Hunting
This becomes particularly important while hunting because the environment is constantly changing.
You're walking through brush.
You're climbing a hill.
You're stepping across a creek.
Someone moves ahead of you.
Your partner bends down.
A dog crosses in front of you.
You stumble.
You encounter a fence.
Your safe muzzle direction can change from one second to the next.
That means muzzle discipline isn't a position.
It is an ongoing decision.
When traveling with other hunters, everybody should understand their safe zones of fire.
When crossing difficult terrain or obstacles, unload the firearm when appropriate rather than trying to prove how sure-footed you are.
A mechanical safety is useful.
It is not a substitute for safe handling.
Rule 3: Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger Until Your Sights Are on the Target and You Are Ready to Shoot
Look at someone who has been properly trained while handling a firearm and you'll usually notice something immediately.
Their index finger is straight alongside the firearm rather than wrapped around the trigger.
There is a reason.
We stumble.
We get startled.
We lose our balance.
We tighten our hands reflexively.
We bump into things.
All of those things happen in the woods.
Keeping your finger outside the trigger guard provides another layer between an unexpected event and an unintended discharge.
Hunting Adds Stress
Anyone who hunts understands what can happen when that deer finally appears.
Your heart starts pounding.
Your breathing changes.
Fine motor control can deteriorate.
There is excitement and a sudden sense that you need to move before the opportunity disappears.
That is exactly when discipline matters.
Your trigger finger should remain indexed safely along the firearm until you have:
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Positively identified the animal.
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Determined that it is legal to harvest.
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Confirmed a safe shooting lane.
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Identified what is around and beyond the animal.
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Made the conscious decision to fire.
Only then does your finger belong on the trigger.
Rule 4: Be Sure of Your Target and What Is Beyond It
For hunters, this may be the rule we need to spend the most time talking about.
You do not shoot at movement.
You do not shoot at a sound.
You do not shoot at a patch of brown fur.
You do not shoot because something "looked like a deer."
You positively identify your target.
And then you identify everything around it and beyond it.
The NRA's current firearm safety guidance makes this point clearly: a shooter should identify the target beyond doubt and evaluate the area beyond the target before firing.
That requires patience.
Sometimes it means watching an animal walk away.
That's hunting.
Trail-Camera Misidentification Should Give Hunters Something to Think About
This is where those social-media wildlife posts come back into the discussion.
I enjoy them.
Wildlife identification is interesting, and strange trail-camera photographs can generate some good conversations.
But some of the misidentifications I see should also give hunters something to think about.
A bobcat photograph becomes a mountain lion.
A coyote becomes a wolf.
A dog becomes a coyote.
A house cat becomes something considerably more exotic.
Again, some photographs are genuinely difficult to interpret.
But here's the question I think hunters should ask ourselves:
If we sometimes struggle to positively identify an animal while sitting comfortably at home looking at a photograph, how disciplined should we be when looking through brush at a living animal for three seconds at dawn?
Very disciplined.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying:
"I don't know what that is."
There is absolutely nothing wrong with lowering your firearm.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with letting an animal walk away.
No animal is worth making a reckless decision.
Identification Includes More Than Species
Positive identification doesn't stop with knowing that you're looking at a deer.
Depending upon the hunt and local regulations, you may need to determine:
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Species
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Sex
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Antler configuration
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Age class where regulations apply
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Whether another animal is positioned behind it
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Whether the animal is on property where you can legally hunt
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Whether the shot itself is safe and ethical
There can be a substantial difference between seeing an animal and having enough information to safely and legally take a shot.
Those two things should never be confused.
Know What Is Beyond Your Target
Hunters naturally focus on the animal.
The fourth firearm safety rule requires us to deliberately look past it.
What happens if the projectile passes completely through the animal?
What is behind that hillside?
Where is the nearest road?
Where is the neighboring house?
Where is your hunting partner?
Where might another hunter reasonably be?
Is there livestock nearby?
Is your target silhouetted against the skyline?
A bullet does not magically stop because you missed your intended target.
Neither does it necessarily stop inside the animal you hit.
The target is only one part of the decision.
Foreground. Target. Background. Beyond.
Consider all of it.
Blind and Treestand Placement Are Part of Firearm Safety
Firearm safety begins long before the trigger is pressed.
Where you position a blind or treestand can either give you good shooting opportunities or create unnecessary risk.
Before hunting from a location, walk it.
Look at the likely shooting lanes from the shooter's perspective.
Ask yourself:
Where will this bullet go if I miss?
An elevated treestand can sometimes provide the advantage of directing shots toward the earth, depending upon the terrain and shot angle.
A ground blind positioned toward a road, walking trail, neighboring property, campground, parking area, or commonly traveled route deserves serious reconsideration.
Know the property.
Know where people enter it.
Know where other hunters are likely to travel.
Know where neighboring homes and roads are located.
Plan before the hunt instead of trying to solve those problems while an animal is standing in front of you.
Stalk Hunting Requires Even More Situational Awareness
Stalk hunting introduces another variable:
you are moving.
And so may everybody else.
Your shooting position changes.
Your background changes.
Your relationship to roads, property lines, other hunters, livestock, and structures changes.
Something that offered a safe backstop twenty minutes ago may no longer provide one from your new position.
If multiple hunters are working the same property, communication becomes incredibly important.
Everyone should understand:
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Where the others began
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Where they expect to travel
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Their general hunting areas
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Their expected return times
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Areas that should not be fired toward
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How plans will be communicated if somebody changes position
A map shared before the hunt can eliminate a lot of confusion.
So can a five-minute conversation.
Wear Your Hunter Orange
I am also a strong advocate for hunter orange.
Yes, camouflage has its place.
Yes, concealment can matter.
But there are times when being unmistakably recognizable as a human being matters considerably more.
Hunter-orange regulations vary by state and season, so every hunter should check the current regulations where they hunt.
Here in Kentucky, for example, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife requires qualifying hunters and accompanying persons during specified firearm seasons to wear solid hunter orange visible from all sides on the head, back, and chest. Kentucky regulations also contain specific orange requirements for some ground blinds on public hunting areas.
Don't treat hunter orange as something you reluctantly wear because the game warden might write you a ticket.
Treat it as part of your safety system.
Particularly when moving through the woods during firearms season, I want another hunter to immediately recognize:
That's a person.
Not a deer.
Not movement.
Not a shadow.
Not something they need another two seconds to figure out.
A person.
Safety Rules Should Overlap
One of the things I appreciate about the four firearm safety rules is that they overlap.
Suppose you stumble.
Your muzzle is still pointed safely.
Suppose your muzzle momentarily moves somewhere you don't want it.
Your finger is still outside the trigger guard.
Suppose something unexpected walks into your shooting lane.
You haven't fired because you haven't positively identified your target and what lies beyond it.
Good safety systems don't depend upon perfection.
They build multiple layers between a mistake and a tragedy.
That is why none of these rules replaces another.
You practice all four, all the time.
Experience Should Make Us More Careful, Not Less
New shooters are often extremely deliberate.
They think about every movement.
Where is my muzzle?
Where is my finger?
Is this loaded?
What is behind my target?
Then something interesting can happen after years of experience.
We become comfortable.
Comfort is useful.
Complacency isn't.
I've never met anyone who became so skilled with a firearm that the laws of physics stopped applying to them.
The fundamentals remain the fundamentals.
Whether this is your first hunting season or your fiftieth, the responsibility remains the same.
Treat every firearm as though it is loaded.
Never allow the muzzle to cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target and have made the decision to shoot.
Be absolutely certain of your target and what is around and beyond it.
And for hunters, I'll add this:
If you aren't sure what you're looking at, don't shoot.
There will be another animal.
There will be another hunt.
There will be another season.
Make sure everybody gets to come home from this one.
Be safe out there.
Where the best classroom has no walls.
