I’m pretty sure you’re still not supposed to do that, even if you KNOW the thing isn’t loaded.
Every rural kid has to memorize the saying, "treat every gun as if it's loaded" before he gets his first .22 (which comes around the age of 12 or so). Not only that, he gets to constantly show the grown-ups in the family for the better part of the next decade.
Al's more the "metrosexual" type though; I'm sure at some point in basic training somebody mentioned firearms safety, but it apparently didn't have the same impact as learning it from a Scots-Irish grandfather...