Beyond Cooper’s Four Rules by L.K.R.

“dry fire” should be conducted out door. The border patrol (at least the local ones I grew up in the locker rooms of) had a large open steel pipe filled with sand infront of thier “employee entrances” you would place the barrel of gun in this and unload. Then enter the building.

Not many actually did this.

The agents also had a tendancy to dry fire while aiming at the clock on the wall.

As a result …. There was a section of wall that is haunted by the ghost of clock past…. And lots of time was killed… And that section of wall is now constructed basically entirely of paper tape and compound.

Honestly keep the trigger pulling in approved areas and with firearm pointed in approved directions.

A very good summary of gun safety rules. Let’s just say my Dad’s hammering of those same rules saved a friends life (and mine too) when I was young and foolish.

To be honest I don’t think these rules are said enough. I have been around an AD (accidental discharge) before and it isn’t fun. I have also been flagged while helping to run a range before. Again, not fun. These rules aren’t a burden but are demanded from us as responsible gun owners. I happily follow them every single day. Thank you for this article, for it is the basics and the small things that are often forgotten but should be front and center when using firearms.

I carry behind my right hip, concealable but still easy to get to, except when I’m in my car or pu. Then it’s a bitch to get to. Like Mr Cooper said about the location or pointing of the muzzle, at 70 plus, it just a memory. So I’ve been wondering about maybe a crossdraw ( inside the waist band ) for a .380 bersa / walther. Just wondering

Way, way back when I had to take a hunter safety course, the game wardens cleared a shotgun and set it down, demonstrating the process. With some impressive stage direction, the other warden secretly loaded the shotgun with a blank, so when the first warden picked the “empty” shotgun up again (by the trigger) it went off. Scared the bejesus out of all of us teenagers, and I will never forget that lesson. Always treat a weapon as loaded, even if you “know” it isn’t.

I almost always carry with an empty chamber myself, but I’m ok with the compromise.

Rule 5: Never attempt to catch a falling gun.

Many (most) modern pistols no longer have an external safety. Therefore anything that interacts with the trigger can cause it to discharge. If for any reason you lose your grip on the gun, let it fall. The internal drop safety will prevent it from firing. However, if you attempt to catch it, any finger may make its way into the trigger guard and accidentally pull the trigger.

Folks who mostly shoot alone at their private range need to be extra careful to avoid developing unsafe habits.

Corollary Rule to Cooper’s 4: If you are tired or sleepy your chance of violating one of the Big 4 is at least double.

On my last tour in Iraq I watched an extremely experienced MSG AD his 9mm into the clearing barrel – not just once, but multiple times – because of fatigue. I finally had to run over to him and put my hand over his and stop him from continuing to rack and fire into the barrel. He simply forgot to take his magazine out first, so he kept racking and firing thinking he was clearing the weapon. Needless to say, this was a significant emotional event and a learning event as well. Fatigue can make you do really stupid things if you don’t mitigate it – even with battle buddies it can get you (his battle buddy was up in the hatch clearing the .50 cal). When tired, slow down and triple check everything!

This is so true. Fatigue leads to so many ER gunshot visits. Then add the effects of alcohol or OTC medications (the ones that make you drowsy) to fatigue. The alcohol does not need to be at high levels (DUI) to affect judgement.

I refuse to be around anyone who has had a drink in the last six hours when firearms are present. One mistake in judgement equals tragedy.

Carry on

I agree with your gun locker philosophy. I only use mechanical combination, lock, etc. I see too many people who buy big gun safes with electronic locks, which likely will never open after an EMP or strong solar flare (when you will need your weapon the most). Good article.

I am constitutionally against gun safes. Period. If you need a child proof storage for gun then you need to educate your child on gun safety.

If you need to secure your gun from theft then it should be done in a different manner ,… Buried in a drum , or mattress etc.

Any safe that I’ve wanted in to I have gotten in to. I have no problem grinding open a safe. Grinders touches hammers sawsalls . If they want in your safe they will get in.

All safes do is protect the eyes from seeing and delay your getting to them. Just like locking your tool box on a Jobe site…

“Locks only keep honest people honest”

My local locksmith told me that every week he is called to someone’s house to break in to their gun safe because their electronic lock has malfunctioned and they can’t open it up. He said never buy a gun safe with a digital keypad lock, only mechanical.

Lol on gun safety.

My dad was a leo (b.p.) and drilled us constantly. I didn’t realize how deeply ingrained the lessons were until I read this … And noticed how I hold my drills and drivers at work …. Lol.

I have taught new shooters “all guns are loaded until you know otherwise.”

First – “all guns,” whether you are holding it or not. That means you insist on others treating the guns they are handling as loaded until you are certain they aren’t. Their knowlege isn’t sufficient. And it includes guns that are resting nearby too.

Then “you know” which means you have actual knowlege that has determined the gun is unloaded. It means you have the understanding of the way the gun operates as well as you have made the observations necessary to ensure it’s unloaded. It means you have taken the time and care and not made hasty or incomplete inspection.

Once you know the gun is unloaded, you can carefully handle it as unloaded. Why? Do you ever clean your gun? Do you ever clean your gun while it is loaded? If you only clean unloaded guns, you must have a criteria that determines a gun is unloaded and safe to handle.

I rod every weapon to check for empty barrel. The old Hoppes rods had orange plastic swab holders which are perfect for checks. I wish they’d go back to that color.

I’ve mentioned the gun safe electronic lock problem to various store employees where safes are sold and none of them has an answer…ie) can the electronics be over ridden in case of electronic failure? ( not just the need for new batteries), and they are blank. Surely the safe manufacturers have a solution for this, otherwise there is inadvertent “gun control” and disarmament. Electronically controlled gun safes are not my choice.

You can have the safe converted to a mechanical lock. It costs, but is worth it.

I had an electronic lock fail on a fire safe. Mechanical failure in the electronic locking system. No way to get in without destroying the safe. I cut it open with a grinder. Needless to say I’m saving for good fire safe with a totally mechanical lock.

Excellent article- we need much much more of this type of proper discipline.
Also – when hunting, or on BLM land – I OFTEN see folks not properly evaluating what is BEHIND their target…

The border patrol where I grew up would actually order their agents out of certain known hunting areas at the beginning of dove season… The gun handling of people and shot judgement and field of fire analysis was so poor that it was a hazard to the agents.

And there was so much shooting at suspected movement that no illegals would attempt to cross at that time… Or survive if they did attempt.

I have seriously seen people shoot through a whole magazine flip and reload (competition style) just to empty that magazine for one ONE dove.

Ive also seen irl the pheasant accident where both people died.

I was once hit in the shoulder by a ricochet in a shooting range. The person next to me had an accidental discharge into a concrete ceiling beam directly over us and it came back and hit me in the shoulder. I am always on guard now whenever others are shooting nearby. All you have to do is look around and see all of the holes in various places from accidents while in a range.

My father was aggressive about gun safety. Starting with my BB gun. As a boy, I once allowed the muzzle to briefly cover my grandfather while hiking and my father seized my gun, emptied it, dry fired it to make sure it was empty, and returned it to me. I was then required to carry that “empty” gun on all outings for an entire year while strictly obeying all of the safety rules. Only after a year of safe gun handling did he return my ammo. I hate to admit that my second offense involved a ricochet from firing my BB gun at a target without regard for what was behind it. No injuries but that mistake cost me the right to possess my gun for another year. Needless to say, when I finally graduated to actual firearms, gun safety was one of my core values. Gun safety starts early and a zero tolerance policy for violations must be enforced in a meaningful way.

Growing up my brothers and I had total access to the old man’s guns and he kept a 357 revolver loaded and hanging on the bed post where he slept. However we were taught so early I can’t remember not knowing it, that all guns are loaded and are not toys. I think all our friends had the same lesson cause no one ever expressed interest in playing with them or even just curious. These days I shoot alone or with a select few who I know hold the same high standards for safety.

Here’s one more gun safety rule that I now live by and I will throw it out there to you guys and gals to see if you agree. NEVER CARRY YOUR PISTOL LOADED SOMETIMES AND UNLOADED SOMETIMES. It’s too easy to forget whether it’s loaded NOW or did I unload it the last time I carried it. My advice is to always carry it loaded so there’s no guessing whether it’s loaded or not.
I come to this conclusion after making a stupid mistake. My wife and I were about to leave the house to run some errands and I went out to my truck to wait for her. We live in the country. As I stood next to my truck I decided to reach inside and retrieve my 40 caliber Glock and do some “dry firing” because my wife was taking forever to get ready. I remembered that I had been carrying it unloaded so there was no danger there. I pulled out the pistol and pointed it at my canoe which was resting on the shore of my nearby pond. I was impressing myself at how steady I was holding it and my breath control was down right text book perfect. I expertly squeezed the trigger (not jerking the trigger because I’m practically a professional) and then then gun went BANG! It scared the crap out of me! My ego instantly became deflated as I realized that I had in fact loaded the gun the last time that I had carried it in my truck. I could have sworn that it was unloaded the last time I had put it in it’s holster and placed the gun in the center console of my truck. So I walked down to the pond like a whipped pup only to find that I had shot through both sides of my aluminum canoe.
I still have that canoe today (twenty years later) and every time I get in it and I see the two patched holes I still feel embarrassed. But gosh wasn’t that a heck of a shot!

on a hunting trip near elk mountain wyoming i had a firearm go off with the safety engaged, luckily i had it pointed in a safe direction….

Visiting friends out west, there was an unforgettable incident. They were having a big family gathering, and the father’s ten year old son wanted to show off his hunting rifle. The whole family hunted frequently – all they had to do was walk out the door to find good hunting.

He came back into the living room, and showed off the rifle to his father and the rest of the family, as well as to us guests. Someone asked if it was unloaded. “Of course” he answered, a bit indignantly. Someone else told him to check. He resisted a bit, sure than it was unloaded. He checked. It was loaded, and he had been pointing it straight at his father, whom he loved dearly.

You could feel the shock and horror in the room, most of all from the boy.

When I was a child I asked my father if I could have a toy gun. He said “No”. “A gun is never a toy and should never be presented as such”. A few years later I was allowed a BB gun and later a .22 and was taught the rules. If you want to see children getting hardwired with all of the wrong gun handling habits go to a paintball range.

Concerning gun safety, IN GUN STORES. I was visiting a favorite gun store in a city with a population of more than 100,000 people. At three seconds inside the store, I was startled by the blast of a .308 bolt action hunting rifle fired into the ceiling. It was fired by an employee who was testing the trigger pull of a used rifle the was considering purchasing for himself. How many people had handled that rifle since it entered the store? How many times had the action been operated? The last time pushed a live round into the chamber. Or had the seller brought it into the store with a live round in the chamber? When I drove away from the store, the shooter was climbing the ladder to look for holes in the roof.

Th local PD where I qualify has a large sign at the range shelter that reads Rules of the range.
1. Keep our finger off the trigger!
2. Keep you damned finger off the trigger!
3. Keep your damned finger off the trigger if you like that finger!
4. For those who violate rules 1 through 3, you can retrieve you finger as you leave the range!!

There are no accidental discharges. There are, however, NEGLIGENT DISCHARGES.