[William Tell]

Uri’el-2012 quoted NRA:
"Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction
Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot
Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use"

The NRA does a great disservice to gun safety with this poorly thought out version of "Gun Safety Rules".

Obviously the dead man thought he was pointing the gun in a "safe direction" because he thought the gun was unloaded.

Obviously, the man's intention was to pull the trigger so he thought he was obeying the second rule.

Obviously, the third rule doesn't apply since he thought it was unloaded and didn't expect it to fire.

The Cooper rules (I think Cooper developed them) are better because they emphasize as the first rule that you must "treat every gun as if it is loaded".

You don't have to think it is loaded; you just have to treat it as if it was loaded. Cooper's rule 1.

If you treat a gun as if it is loaded, then obviously you don't point it at your own head because you don't wish to destroy your head. Cooper's rule 2.

If you treat a gun as if it is loaded, then obviously you don't put your finger on the trigger when it is pointed at your head because you don't intend to fire. Cooper's rule 3.

The absence of Cooper's rule 1 is a safety disaster and the NRA should be ashamed.

For completeness sake let's look at Cooper's rule 4; Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.

It was not that long ago that a young man who intended to commit suicide shot himself in the head. What he probably didn't intend was that the bullet exited his head and entered a girl standing next to him and killed her.

The NRA so-called safety rules are inadequate and therefor dangerous. I have taught gun safety to many of my friends and they don't touch anything until they can recite Cooper's rules back to me from memory.

[Uri’el-2012]

Jeff Cooper rules
were the best we had when they were first developed.

They were developed for dogfaces and grunts.

They worked well enough.

The NRA adopted and the Training Department taught the Cooper Rules.

Over time the Cooper Rules were shown to be ineffective
as "NDs" did not decline.

The NRA Training Department researched a better way to teach gun safety.

The result of this extensive study over a number of years led the NRA Training
Department to reject the Cooper Rules that they had embraced.
This despite Jeff Cooper being on the NRA Executive Committee.

One can only imagine the arguments over many years
until everyone on the executive committee were convinced
that the new NRA Safety Rules were superior to the
then current Cooper Rules.

Anyone who knew Col. Cooper's massive Ego and Pride,
knows how heated these arguments were.

The result was that the NRA adopted the
recommendation of the NRA Training Department.

and issued the following NRA Safety Rules.

Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction

Always keep your finger of the trigger until ready to shoot

Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use

• The NRA rules are all positive; and thus easier to remember.
  
• The words used are ones that everyone can understand.
  
• They are in a sequence, such that if you follow rule one,
  you remain safe even if you violate rule two and rule three.
  
• You don't need to waste time and effort remembering that
  all guns are loaded, because if you
  Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction
  it does not matter.

Following the introduction of the new NRA Safety Rules,
the number of "NDs" were reduced and continue to decline.

However in those areas where Cooper Rules continue to be taught,
"NDs" have not declined.

When you plan to shoot there are more rules to follow.

OBTW; I learned the Cooper Rules sixty years ago
as a boy with my first BB gun.

I could repeat the rules and violated them consistently.

I'm sure you did too.

My Daisy Red Ryder was always loaded.