S.F. police officer's gun fires round after being struck by fleeing vehicle

+1.

I am going to file this gun under the same category as SUVs that hit things. They're just so dangerous, these things. No human intervention required, right?

1. All guns are always loaded. Period.
I have never agreed with having a definitive safety list that begins with a false statement. Perhaps I'm slightly more pedantic than most people, but still I think it's just going to subconsciously make people doubt things.
All guns are not always loaded. I have an entire gun-safe full of unloaded guns.

I believe Jeff Cooper modified this eventually to be: "1. All guns are always loaded (until you establish whether they are or not)."

Unlike a power drill, which you usually pull the trigger to check if it’s plugged in ...

BS

Jack Black said: I believe Jeff Cooper modified this eventually to be: "1. All guns are always loaded (until you establish whether they are or not)."

My preferred version is "Treat every gun as if it is loaded".

I very much agree with not beginning a safety list with a false statement. We want to stress what proper handling is, not whether the gun is or is not loaded.

Even while cleaning a gun, if there is no necessity to touch the trigger, don't touch it. If there is no necessity to point the gun at something you don't wish to destroy, then don't do it.

“I have never agreed with having a definitive safety list that begins with a false statement. Perhaps I’m slightly more pedantic than most people, but still I think it’s just going to subconsciously make people doubt things.”

Fascinatingly enough, the existing dogma was “treat it as if it were loaded” and Cooper emphatically rejected that concept. That first rule is actually expanded upon by Cooper saying that one should never water down this essential concept in one’s mind by accepting the fallacy that you’re just going to “treat it as if it were loaded.”

Despite the common appeal to “treat them as if they were loaded”, many people who should have known better STILL behaved in a cavalier fashion towards their firearms. To this day a frightening number of people are shot with guns that they believe to be unloaded. Hell, the video of the brain-dead DEA agent “confirming” his sidearm is “unloaded” before shooting himself in the leg is a wonderful example of this.

Cooper made a conscious effort to emphatically affirm that a firearm must be handled with care, and to try to drive home the point that lots of people are shot with firearms they believe to be unloaded despite years of NRA safety training urging them otherwise. He thought the best way to accomplish this end was to drive a stake through the heart of complacent and unaware mental states and try to force people on an instinctive level to handle firearms precisely the same whether they “thought” they were loaded or not.

Whether you like to think so or not, most people are apt to mentally throw out that list of safety rules right after they “confirm” the gun is “unloaded”. Mistakes WILL be made, and it’s very important to ensure that people are not just going through half-hearted motions with a gun they firmly believe to be unloaded.

Case in point regarding beliefs and mistakes, I’m reminded of a hunter education class where some “unloaded” .22LR rifles were handed out to the class for handling and familiarization. After a few minutes one of the young boys in the class raised his hand and emphatically signaled the instructor - turns out the extractor on that particular rifle hadn’t properly caught the rim of a chambered cartridge, leaving a cartridge behind. I can only guess how long that cartridge had sat there, after a range trip, numerous loadings and unloadings of the gun safe, and after said rifle was visually inspected by a number of men and boys who all said “yup, that thar is unloaded”. Adult men who had spent decades safely handling and using firearms (as well as teaching firearms safety) handled and inspected this rifle. I’m sure every single one of them looked at it, thought to themselves “I unloaded this, I removed the magazine, I cycled the action, I also saw this confirmed as unloaded by others, yeah I know it’s unloaded.” all despite a little unobtrusive circle of brass staring back at them from the chamber.

In instances such as these, it’s very important that someone doesn’t just check #1 off the mental list of safety rules and kind of gloss over the rest of the list “because it’s unloaded already, jeeze.”

Quite frankly Cooper’s approach is a quantitatively better approach than “treating” a gun as if it were loaded. “Treating” a gun as if it is loaded has the emotional effect of reinforcing the belief that “it’s unloaded already, stop pestering me with trivialities.”

Expecting an unloaded gun to go *BANG!* when you pull the trigger is the proper mental state to be in, even when cleaning and disassembling your firearms.

Case in point, the manual of arms for the Glock series of pistols requires that a person stripping down the gun MUST pull the trigger - the proper state of mind to be in during this procedure is expecting, despite all visual and tactile stimuli reassuring you that it’s “unloaded”, is expecting your “unloaded” gun to go *BANG!*.

Having a five-gallon bucket of sand in your garage for use as a backstop while stripping down your Glock, and wearing a pair of earplugs while going through the first steps of the takedown sequence, is going to prevent a lot more harm and property destruction than simply re-assuring yourself that it’s unloaded and you’ll just “treat it” with respect.

I’ve seen people who messed up the Glock takedown procedure. Some ended up with tinnitus, one ended up with a new hole in his body. I’d much rather have had these men EXPECTING their “unloaded” gun to go *BANG!* instead of click, as they’d probably actually be taking real safety measures like using a safe backstop and hearing protection rather than just mentally and emotionally reassuring themselves that the gun was unloaded.

Thank you for your very thoughtful reply. You made many excellent points.